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THE 


Lutherans  in  America. 

I  Story  of  Struggle,  Progress,  Influence 


AND 


Marvelous  Growth, 


BY 


EDMUND  JACOB   WOLF,  D.  D. 
©Y/itft  an  <#n£roc|uefion 


BY 


HENR  Y  E  YSTER  JACOBS,  D.  D. 


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Hier  Sfehe  ieh,  ieh  kann  nieM  anders. 


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NEW   YORK: 
J.  A.  HILL  &  COMPANY,  44  EAST  14TH  ST 


Copyright, 
T.   A.    HILL  &  COMPANY, 


PREFACE. 


In  the  preparation  of  this  volume,  grateful  acknowledgements  are  due 
to  my  colleagues,  Rev.  M.  Valentine,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  and  Rev.  C.  A. 
Hay,  D.  D.,  for  valuable  assistance ;  to  Rev.  Prof.  A.  Graebner  for  the 
material  of  the  history  of  the  Missourians  ;  to  Rev.  Prof.  G.  H.  Schodde, 
Ph.  D.,  for  that  of  the  Synod  of  Ohio ;  to  Rev.  Prof.  G.  J.  Fritschel  for 
that  of  the  Synod  of  Iowa ;  to  Rev.  Prof.  W.  K.  Frick  for  that  of  the 
Swedes  ;  to  Rev.  Prof.  K.  O.  Lomen  for  that  of  the  Norwegians  ;  to  Rev. 
R.  Andersen  for  that  of  the  Danes  ;  to  Rev.  G.  F.  Krotel,  D.D.,  LL.  D., 
and  Rev.  Prof.  C.  W.  Schaeffer,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  for  contributions  rela- 
tive to  the  history  of  the  Pennsylvania  Synod  and  that  of  the  General 
Council ;  to  Rev.  T.  W.  Dosh.  D.  D.,  for  the  matter  of  the  Uniled  Synod, 
to  Rev.  J.  Nicum  for  statistical  matter ;  to  Revs.  Prof  .L.  A.  Fox,  D.  D., 
and  Rev.  J.  Paul  Stirewalt  for  material  on  the  Tennessee  Synod,  and  to 
Rev.  D.  M.  Kemerer  for  similar  favors  concerning  the  Pittsburg 
Synod,  G.  C. 

The  arduous  labor  of  collecting  and  digesting  the  material  has  been 
inspired  and  sustained  by  the  supreme  desire  to  afford  to  the  Lutheran 
people,  as  well  as  the  general  Christian  public,  a  better  acquaintance 
with  their  glorious  Church,  under  the  firm  conviction  that  to  know  her  is 
to  love  her,  and  that  those  knowing  and  loving  her  true  character  will 
consecrate  themselves  to  the  maintenance  of  her  purity  in  faith  and 
life,  and  the  enlargement  of  her  efficiency  in  extending  the  word  and 
kingdom  of  Jesus. 

To  the  indulgence  of  the  readers  and  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit  the 
imperfect  results  are  humbly  commended. 

E.  J.  VV. 

Festival  of  the  Reformation,  i88g. 


INTRODUCTION 


THERE  are  three  forms  of  historical  composition, 
the  documentary,  the  philosophical  and  the  pop- 
ular. The  documentary  and  the  philosophical, 
the  former  furnishing  the  evidence  for  the  facts  stated, 
and  the  latter  dealing  with  the  principles  which  under- 
lie the  facts,  are  intended  for  scholars,  who  come  to 
the  study  of  the  subject  with  some  degree  of  prelim- 
inary knowledge  of  what  is  treated.  The  critical  stu- 
dent is  never  satisfied  until  he  can  trace  the  statement 
of  a  fact  to  its  ultimate  source,  and  judge  it  in  the 
same  light  as  the  historian  himself.  But  there  is  no 
less  room  for  the  popular  presentation  of  history. 
This  is  necessarily  dependent  upon  what  has  been 
previously  accomplished  in  the  other  departments. 
The  main  facts  which  have  been  slathered  as  the  result 
of  minute  and  extensive  research,  are  woven  together 
into  a  continuous  narrative,  which  does  not  aim  at 
being  exhaustive,  but  simply  at  giving  what,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  historian,  is  most  important  and  inter- 
esting to  the  general  reader.  He  takes  the  reader 
with  him  to  a  mountain  side,  and  points  out  the  path 
through  which  the  ascent  has  been  made;  but  does 
not  enter  into  the  details  as  would  the  surveyor  who 
had  been  commissioned  to  revise  lines,  and  establish 
the  validity  of  conflicting  claims. 


vi  Introduction. 

With   the  growth  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this 
country,  there  has  been  a  most  commendable  cultiva- 
tion of  the   department  of  documentary  history  by  a 
few  learned  and  persevering  scholars.     Chief  among 
these  are  the  editors  of  that  work  of  stupendous  in- 
dustry, the  revised  edition  of  the  Hallesche  Nachrich- 
ten,  Drs.  W.  J.  Mann,   B.  M.  Schmucker  and   W.  Ger- 
mann.    Dr.  Mann  has  also  laid  the  Church  under  ever- 
lasting obligations  by  his  "  Life  and  Times  of  Muhlen- 
berg."   The  earlier  labors,  within  this  sphere,  of  Dr. 
W.  M.  Reynolds  and  the  recent  ones  of  Rev.  J.  Nicum, 
are  not  to  be  forgotton.     Unfortunately,  the  lack  of  his- 
torical culture  on  the  part  of  even  our  more  scholarly 
ministers    is    manifest    by  the    rarity  with  which    the 
Hallesche  Nachrichten  appears  on  the  shelves  of  their 
libraries,  and  especially  by  the  fact  that  the  publica- 
tion of  thiit  important  collection   of  documents  with 
the    illustrative    historical     notes    brought    down    to 
the    present    day,  has    ceased  with    its    first    volume. 
Such  work,  however,  is  not  lost.     With  every  advance 
in    the    cultivation    of    documentary  history,  an    ad- 
vance  in   its   more  popular  presentation   is   required. 
The  more  monographs  written  within  the  scope  of  a 
science,  the  greater  the   demand  for   handbooks  out- 
lining the  subject.     If  we  compare  the  readable,  and,  at 
its  time,  very  useful  sketch  of  the  life  of  Muhlenberg 
published    in    1856,    by  Dr.  M.   L.   Stoever,  with  that 
above  referred  to,  some  idea  can  be  formed  of  the  ad- 
vance, during  this  interval,  made  among  us  in  histor- 
ical studies.     While,  therefore,  in  the  past,  the  popu- 
lar presentation  has  not  been  neglected,  and  Drs.  E. 
L.  Hazelius,   S.  S.  Schmucker,  and  C.  W.  SchaefTer,  at 


Introduction.  vii 

different  times  have  furnished  sketches,  it  has  been  im- 
possible for  any  member  of  our  congregations  to  find 
the  facts  of  the  origin  and  development  of  the  Lu- 
theran Church  in  America,  as  known  up  to  the  present 
time,  adequately  given  in  any  one  book. 

In  this  volume,  Dr.  Wolf  has  undertaken  to  chroni- 
cle the  results  so  far  as  they  have  been  made  accessi- 
ble. The  popular  historian,  in  some  respects,  per- 
forms a  self-sacrificing  work.  He  writes  a  book  for 
the  times;  but  which,  like  everything  adapted  to  the 
times,  can  only  indirectly  serve  a  permanent  end.  It 
stimulates  to  the  higher  appreciation  and  the  more 
extensive  study  of  history.  It  leads  students  from  the 
popular,  to  the  cultivation  of  the  documentary  and 
philosophical  spheres.  It  fulfils  an  important  office 
in  widening  the  horizon,  and  informing  the  various 
parts  of  the  Church  of  their  historical  relations.  It 
becomes  a  starting-point  for  earnest  activity,  both  in 
practical  work  and  in  scholarly  investigation. 

Two  difficulties  especially  confronted  the  author  of 
this  work.  Historians  speak  of  the  necessity  of  an 
historical  perspective.  A  photograph  of  a  building 
cannot  be  taken  unless  the  camera  be  placed  at  a  con- 
siderable distance.  Those  who  have  made  or  who 
are  closely  related  to  those  who  make  history,  cannot 
well  write  it.  They  are  the  best  witnesses  concerning 
bare  statements  of  facts,  but  not  the  best  judges  as  to 
principles  and  results.  They  cannot  see  the  trees,  be- 
cause of  the  leaves.  A  life  of  Muhlenberg,  by  Dr. 
Kunze,  or  Dr.  Helmuth,  would  not  have  been  as  satis- 
factory as  that  of  Dr.  Mann,  written  one  hundred  years 
after  Muhlenberg's  death.     We  have  scarcely  reached 


viii  Introduction. 

the  point  whence  we  can  view  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
America  of  even  the  earlier  period  of  this  century 
with  complete  historical  impartiality.  This  will  be 
done  in  time.  Everything  will  doubtless  be  subjected 
to  critical,  historical  analysis.  But,  meanwhile,  the 
story,  so  far  as  known,  must  be  told ;  and  the  facts,  so 
far  as  known,  must  be  judged,  in  order  to  prepare  the 
way  for  those  who  are  to  follow. 

A  second  difficulty  before  him,  has  been  that  while 
the  Lutherans  of  America  are  separated  into  several 
divisions,  on  the  ground  of  principles  upon  which,  thus 
far,  they  have  been  unable  to  agree,  and  the  discussion 
of  which  has  formed  a  great  part  of  the  history  during 
the  period  treated,  he  has  endeavored  to  present  an 
outline  of  the  external  history  with  entire  impartiality. 
It  is  too  much  to  expect  of  any  man,  that  even  with 
the  highest  appreciation  of  those  with  whom  he  dif- 
fers, he  can  be  completely  uninfluenced  by  his  theo- 
logical standpoint.  The  writer  frankly  confesses  that 
he  could  not;  and  hence,  would  not  demand  of  an- 
other, what  he  cannot  plead  for  himself.  We  have 
read  with  much  interest  the  entire  book.  We  have 
admired  the  general  objectivity  and  impartiality  of 
the  author's  judgment.  WTe  have  been  stirred  to  en- 
thusiasm by  his  eloquence,  and  only  on  a  few  points 
have  we  ventured  suggestions.  Within  its  own  sphere 
and  for  its  own  purpose,  the  work  is  well  conceived 
and  well  executed  and  worthy  of  high  commendation. 

The  story  which  is  rehearsed  is  one  of  the  deepest 
interest.  It  abounds  in  incidents  as  inspiring  and 
worthy  of  commemoration  as  the  far  more  familiar 
history  of   communions  hitherto  more  prominent  in 


Introduction.  ix 

this  country.  It  is  at  the  same  time  a  story  of  much 
intricacy.  So  various  are  the  sources  from  whence 
our  Lutheran  people  come,  and  so  constant  has  been 
the  stream  of  immigration,  placing  layer  after  layer 
of  successive  movements  upon  one  another,  that 
much  confusion  would  be  unavoidable  were  the  ele- 
ments found  here  homogeneous  in  their  European 
home.  This,  however,  as  is  well-known,  is  not  the 
case.  The  contrasts  which  exist  in  Europe,  become  all 
the  more  striking  when  placed  in  juxtaposition  here. 
Conflicts  which  there  could  be  avoided  because  of 
distance  or  national  barriers,  here  must  be  faced,  as 
each  theory  is  put  to  the  severest  tests.  The  distribu- 
tion which  Guizot  makes  of  the  history  of  the  civiliza- 
tion of  Europe  into  three  periods,  viz.:  one  of  origina- 
tion, one  of  experimentation,  and  one  of  permanent 
a  ad  vigorous  development,  we  believe  will  be  found  to 
be  very  applicable  here.  While  this  is  true  of  the 
Church  as  a  whole,  it  is  also  true  of  each  particular 
element  included  in  it.  In  one  respect,  the  period  of 
origination  was  over  with  the  new  era  that  entered 
with  the  landing  of  Muhlenberg.  In  another  respect, 
we  are  still  in  the  midst  of  it,  and  will  remain  so  as 
long  as  the  majority  of  our  communicant  membership 
are  of  foreign  birth.  The  period  of  experimentation 
is  marked  by  the  several  efforts  that  have  been  made 
to  comprise  all  Lutheran  Synods  into  a  general  organ- 
ization. How  far  this  has  advanced,  and  how  near  or 
how  far  any  of  the  general  bodies  is  to  this  goal,  may 
be  learned  from  this  volume.  In  spite,  however,  of  the 
fact  that  the  period  of  experimentation  is  still  dom- 
inant, that  of  vigorous    development   has    not    been 


x  Introduction. 

delayed.     The  three  periods  overlap  each  other,  and 
the  one  begins  before  the  other  ends. 

There  is  yet  another  fact  which  a  careful  study  of 
this  volume  shows.  We  cannot  but  be  reminded  of 
the  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  chosen  people  of  the 
old  covenant.  Once  there  was  a  time  when  the  efforts 
of  the  prophets  were  directed  to  awaken  Israel  to  a 
sense  of  its  true  importance.  There  was  no  national 
spirit  left;  all  national  self-consciousness  had  vanished. 
Not  only  the  national  habits,  but  even  the  religious 
rites  of  the  neighboring  nations  became  the  standards 
according  to  which  they  endeavored  to  amend  and  ad- 
just what  God  had  given  them.  But  there  came  an- 
other period  when  Israel  awoke  to  a  consciousness  of 
its  prerogative  and  asserted  its  rights.  Soon  we  find 
national  apathy  succeeded  by  a  self-consciousness  that 
ran  to  the  opposite  extreme,  as  exhibited  in  the  days 
when  the  new  dispensation  opened.  The  name,  the 
customs,  the  institutions  were  cherished  as  a  badge  of 
their  glorious  past.  All  not  able  to  establish  its  claim 
to  unquestioned  national  purity  was  renounced.  Noth- 
ing good  could  be  acknowledged  as  coming  from  any 
otherquarter.  Both  periodsof  the  history  of  God'speo- 
ple  may  be  found  reproduced  in  that  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  America.  Both  tendencies  mayalso  befound 
to  coexist  at  the  same  time  and  place.  As  the  elder 
Dr.  Krauth  said,  there  was  a  time  when  the  dom- 
inant tendency  was  "to  glory  that  we  are  like  every- 
body, and  consequently  nothing  in  ourselves,  living 
only  by  the  breath  of  others,"  or  as  he  might  have  ad- 
ded, living  by  mere  sufferance,  despised  by  others  as 
those  having  little  respect  for  themselves.    Suddenly 


Introduction.  xi 

as  the  cloud  lifted,  the  great  proportions  of  our  Church, 
her  vast  heritage,  her  wonderful  structure  of  theology, 
her  rich  treasures  in  every  department  of  religious 
literature  and  her  active  work  in  so  many  spheres  of 
beneficence,  came  to  view.  How  easy  now  to  glory 
that  we  are  Lutherans,  and  to  fail  to  appreciate  that 
in  other  quarters  which  we  formerly  reverenced  with 
excessive  devotion  ! 

The  Lutheran  Church  has  come  to  America,  cer- 
tainly not  without  some  great  purpose.  When  we 
review  the  past,  we  are  astonished  at  its  vitality.  If 
Lutheranism  were  mortal,  it  would  have  died  in  this 
country  long  ago.  We  have  lost  our  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  members,  and  millions  of  wealth  over 
and  over  ao-ain.  The  mismanagement  attending  im- 
portant  trusts,  and  culminating  in  repeated  disasters, 
Dr.  Wolf  well  traces.  But  in  spite  of  all  we  do  to 
ruin  it,  on  it  moves  with  ever  increasing  vicror.  Where 
one  is  lost,  ten  are  gained !  The  conflicts  and  mistakes 
make  a  noise  and  attract  attention.  The  processes  of 
steady  growth  are  silent,  extending  into  numberless 
recesses.and  makingthemselves  felt  only  when  the  whole 
field  is  viewed  from  year  to  year.  We  cannot  believe 
that  God  is  preserving  such  a  communion,  and  con- 
stantly extending  it,  simply  for  itself  alone.  Its  influ- 
ience  is  destined  to  be  felt  far  and  wide  beyond  its  own 
boundaries,  as  its  members  become  more  thoroughly 
identified  with  this  country,  as  it  ceases  to  become  a 
Church  of  strangers,  and,  after  reaching  a  more  thor- 
ough harmony  within  itself,  is  able  to  take  the  posi- 
tion which  belongs  to  it  from  its  birthright,  as  the 
Mother    Church    of   Protestantism.     It    has  come  to 


xii  Introduction. 

America  to  stay,  and  to  grow,  and  by  renewing  its 
youth  in  this  new  world,  to  assert  itself  with  all  the 
power  of  its  earliest  days.  Wherever  this  book  is 
read,  it  must  stimulate  most  earnest  thought  as  to 
what  we  are,  whither  we  are  tending,  and  what  each 
one  must  do  to  fulfil  his  trust  with  respect  to  that  no- 
ble cause  which  is  committed  to  us.  Our  members 
certainly  cannot  discharge  their  responsibilities  intelli- 
gently and  discriminatingly  without  knowledge  of  the 
facts  that  are  here  gathered,  and  most  lucidly  and 
forcibly  exhibited. 

Henry  E.  Jacobs. 


Evangelical  Lutheran  Theological  Seminary, 

Mt.  Airy,  Philadelphia,  Pa., 
September  27th,  j88q. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I.  Page. 

THE   CHURCH. 

The  Church  Indestructible — Some  Corruption— Salvation  ■&  Gift — The  Heathen  Way 
— Natural  Susceptibility  to  Krror — Indulgences — The  Priesthood — The  Hierarchy — 
The  Papacy — General  Corruption — The  Testimony  of  History  ....     21 

CHAPTER    II. 

THE   REFORMATION. 

Divine  Intervention — The  Revival  of  Learning — The  Invention  of  Printing — The 
Mariner  s  Compass — National  Self-cunsciousness — The  Free  Cities — Revulsion  of 
Popular  Feeling  toward  the  Hierarchy — The  Man  for  the  Hour — His  Preparatory 
Training — A  Genuine  Romanist — A  Mighty  Change — Birth  of  the  Reformation — 
Value  of  Experience — The  Light  of  the  Scriptures — Infallibility— The  Material  and 
Formal  Principles — Tetzel — The  XCV  Theses — Spread  of  the  Reformation — A 
Picture  of  the  Time 44 

CHAPTER    III. 

THE  EVANGELICAL  LUTHERAN  CHURCH. 

Luther's  Course — Superhuman  Protection — Fate  of  Previous  Reformations — Perma- 
nence of  Luther  s — The  XLVI.  Psalm — Luther s  Conservatism — Justification  by 
Faith — C  hrist's  Dominion — Not  a  New  but  a  Regenerated  Church — The  Lutheran 
Name — Luther's  Co-laborers — Melancthon — Amsdorf — Bugenhagen — Justus  Jonas 
— Other  Worthies — An  Aroused  Laity 75 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  EARLIEST  LUTHERANS   IN    AMERICA. — THE  DUTCH. 

Luther  and  Columbus— Romanism  and  Liberty — The  Founders  of  the  Republic — 
Dutch  Lutherans — Their  Settlement  on  Manhattan — Their  Persecutions — Appeal  to 
the  West  India.  Company — Conventicles  Suppressed — Faith  Fr.during — A  Success- 
ful Appeal  — The  First  Pastor,  Goet water — Change  of  Government — A  South 
Carolina  Colony — Another  Pastor,  1-  abricius — A  Real  Pastor,  Arensius  .        .        .  107 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE  EARLIEST  LUTHERANS  IN  AMERICA. — THE  SWEDES. 

Gustavus  Adolphus— A  Swedish-American  Project — The  First  Colony — Tolerance — 
Missionary  Zeal  — Bitter  Trials — Change  of  Government — Lutheran  Devotion — 
Fabricius — William  Penn — A  Macedonian  Cr  — A  Life  Picture — The  Answer — A 
Nation's  S  mpathy — Re-enforcements — Building  Churches — The  Tears  of  Christ — 
Glorious  Success '33 


xiv  Contents. 

CHAPTER  VI.  Page. 

THE  EARLIEST  LUTHERANS  IN  AMERICA. — THE  GERMANS. 

Prostrate  Germany — First  German  Immigrants — First  German  Congregation — Rev. 
Justus  Falckner — The  Palatines — Rev.  Joshua  von  Kocherthal — Oppression — A 
New  Outrage — Emigration  to  Penns  lvania — Spiritual  Destitution — The  Salzburg- 
ers — Penns)  lvania  Alarmed — The  Newlander — Lutherans  in  the  Carolinas — In 
Maine — In  New  Jersey 169 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    DISPERSION. 

Large  Number  of  Germans — Their  Temporal  Destitution — Their  Spiritual  Distress — 
A  Few  Ministers — Occasional  Services — Steadfast  in  the  Faith — Innumerable  Sects 
— Thieves  and  Robbers — A  Cry  for  Help — Magister  Wolf — The  Hour  of  Darkness      .  210 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

MUHLENBERG   AND    HIS   COLLEAGUES. 

PennsTvania  Congregations — A  Deputation  sent  to  Europe — Their  Reception — Halle 
—  Effectual  Sympathy — Slow  Haste — Heinrich  Melchior  Muhienberg — His  Youth — 
His  Call  to  America — The  Voyage — His  Character — His  Welcome — His  Labors — 
His  Enemies — His  Colleagues  — I  lis  Success — Union — A  Liturgy — A  Synod — A 
Noble  Ministry — The  Power  of  God ,         .  233 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Til-'    RAVAGES   OF   WAR. 

War  and  Religion — Devastations  in  the  Church — Ministers  Secularized — Infidelity- 
Rationalism — Religious  Declension — Peculiar  Trials  of  the  Lutheran  Church — The 
Conflict  of  Language — English  in  the  Colonial  Period— Lutheran  Care  of  Episco- 
pal Churches— Change  of  Polic — Its  Occasion  and  Extent — Its  Deplorable  Re- 
sults— A  Measjre  of  Progress — Two  Muhlcnbergs— Helmuth  and  Schmidt — 
The  Schaeffers— Kunze — Henry  E.  Muhlenberg— J.  N.  and  J.  D.  Kurtz— Jacob 
Goering— Christian  Endiess— J.  G.  Schmucker— Geo.  Lochman — C  A.  G.  Storch 
— F.  H.  Quitman — Christian  Streit — A  Presbyterian  Estimate—  Missionaries — 
Eager — Henkel— Butler— Steele — Heyer — The  Ministerium  of  New  York — The  Unio 
Ecclesiastica  of  South  Carolina — The  Lutherans  Ordain  an  Episcopalian — The 
North  Carolina  S  nod— The  Synod  of  Maryland  and  Virginia — Dearth  of  Minis- 
ters— Want  of  Schools — Private  Training  of  Candidates  ....'.  271 

CHAPTER  X. 

FORMATION   OF    THE    GENERAL   SYNOD. 

The  Occasion— Plan— Constitutional  Convention— First  Meeting— Practical  Aims — 
The  Law  of  Success — Recession  of  the  Pennsylvania  Synod —Second  Meeting — 
New  Synods— Theological  Seminar> — Inaugural  Charge — Benjamin  Kurtz,  D.  D., 
LL.  D.— S.  .i.  Schmucker.  D.  D.— C.  P.  Krauth,  D.  D.— A  Classical  School— Edu- 
cation Society — Missionary  Organizations— Sunday-Schools — Publication  Enterprise 
—A  General  Revival— Extensive  Prosperit  — Part  Borne  by  the  General  Synod- 
Its  Relations  with  Other  Synods — Multiplication  and  Accession  of  Synods— With- 
drawal of  those  in  the  South— Two  Tendencies— The  Disruption— J.  A.  Brown, 
D.  D.,  LL.  D 32a 


Conle?zts.  xv 

CHAPTER  XI.  Page. 

THE    INDEPENDENT   SYNODS. 

The  Tennessee  S>nod — Organization — Doctrinal  Position — Rev.  David  Henkel — Use 
of  the  Press — Pook  of  Concord — <  atechisation — Missions — Union  with  the 
United  Synod — The  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio — Missionary  Work — Education — Pro- 
gress— Relation  to  other  Bodies — Literature — The  Iowa  Synod — Doctrinal  Posi- 
tion— A  Seminary — Missionary  Zeal — Relation  to  Other  Synods — A  Colloquium — 
Indian  Missions — Internal  Disturbance — A  Secession — Rapid  Growth — G.  VV.  L. 
Fritschel,  D.  D. — The  Synod  of  Buffalo — The  Norwegians — Early  Destitution — 
Proselyters — Organization — Growth — Mission  Work — Different  Parties — Doctrinal 
Issues — Present  Divisions — Efforts  at  Union — Danish  Synods — An  Icelandic  Asso- 
ciation  373 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE   MISSOURIANS. 

A  Circle  of  Pietists — C.  F.  W.  Walther— Martin  Stephan — Rationalism — Emigra- 
tion— A  Revelation — Christian  Congregations — A  School  of  Learning — Pastor  Grab- 
au — Rights  of  Congregations — "The  Lutheraner" — The  Dogmaticians— Wyne- 
ken — Fort  Wayne — Dr.  Sihler— Loehe — A  Practical  Seminary — Aggressiveness — 
Organization  of  Synod—  A  "  Pilgsrhaus'" — Gottlieb  Schaller — A  Rupture — Col- 
loquium with  the  Iowa  S  nod — With  Buffalo— District  Synods — The  Sy nodical 
Conference — The  Predestinarian  Controversy — Separation — Statistics — The  Patri- 
archs— The  Wisconsin  Synod — The  Minnesota  Synod 406 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE   GENERAL  COUNCIL. 

Desire  for  Unity— An  Inspiring  Prospect— Fraternal  Address — The  Reading  Conven- 
tion— The  First  Meeting — The  Four  Points— Doctrinal  Basis — A  Chasm— Co-or- 
dination of  Languages— Philadelphia  Seminary — Missionary  Work— Charles  Por- 
terfield  K  auth,  D  D.,  LL.  D.— Beale  M.  Schmucker,  D.  D.— The  Pennsylvania 
Ministerium — The  New  York  Ministerium— The  Pittsburg  Synod— Purpose  of  its 
Organization — Missionery  Zeal— Gottlieb  Bassler— The  Swedish  Au.~ustana  S  nod 
— Immigration — Americanization — Lars  P.  Esbjorn — r.  N.  Hasselquist L\  Carls- 
son— Organization  of  Synod— Theological  Seminary— Eric  Norelius—  Jonas  Swens- 
son— Peter  Carlsson— Union  with  General  Council— Olof  Olsson—  Waldenstrom— 
Sj  nodical  Meetings— Conferences— Swedish  Sects— Home  Mission  Work — Paroch- 
ial Schools — Worship — Intelligence            4~ 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE    UNITED   SYNOD    IN   THE   SOUTH. 

Occasion  for  a  new  General  Body— Preliminary  Convention— General  Synod,  C.  S.  A. 

—Doctrinal  Pasis— A  Pastoral   Letter— Desire  for  Union— A  Common  Service 

Theological  Seminary— Interchange  of  Visitors  with  other  Bodies— Foreign  Mission 
Effort— A  Colloquium— The  United  Synod— Institutions— John  Bachmann.  D.  D., 
LL.  D.— David  F.  Bittle,  D.  D !  s6* 


xv  i  Contents. 


CHAPTER  XV.  Page. 

THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  AND  CULTURE. 

The  Reformers  and  Education — Lutheran  Universities — Popular  Education — Culture 
of  the  Fathers — Kunze — Helmuth — II.  E.  Muhlenberg- — Want  of  Institutions — 
Pennsylvania  College — Parochial  Schools — Catechisation— Care  for  Orphans — 
Higher  Schools — Lutheran  Publications — Periodicals 476 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE   LUTHERAN   CHURCH   AND   MISSIONS. 

Interest  of  the  Reformers — Insuperable  Obstacles — Missionary  Princes — Pietism — 
Danish  Mission  in  India — Christian  Friedrich  Schwartz — First  Bible  House — First 
Missionaries  in  America — An  Example — Lack  of  Ministers — The  Missionary  Spirit 
— Organization — First  Anniversar. — C.  F  Heyer — Walter  Gunn — India  Mission — 
African  Mission — Home  Missions — Illustrations 490 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

OBLIGATIONS  OF  OTHER  COMMUNIONS  TO  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH. 

Effect  of  the  Lutheran  Movement — Later  Developments — Genetic  Relation — The 
Mother  Confession — German  Church  Diet — Trunk  and  Branches — The  Anglican 
Church — The  XXXIX  Articles — Book  of  Common  Pra  er — English  Catechisms — 
Methodism — The  Presb  terians — German  Reformed — The  Moravians     .        .         .  504 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

DISTINGUISHING   DOCTRINES  AND   FEATURES  OF   THE    EVANGELICAL 
LUTHERAN    CHURCH. 

The  Trunk  and  Branches — Comprehensiveness — Three  S  stems — Free  Grace — Re- 
strictions Proposed — Limited  Atonement— Baptism  — Sacramental  Grace — The 
Real  Presence — Consubstantiation — The  Person  of  t  hrist— Justification  by  Faith 
— Liturgical  Worship — T,  e  Common  Service — The  Church  Festivals — Types  of 
Piety  Si3 

CHAPTER  XIX 

PRESENT  STRENGTH    OF   THE    LUTHERAN  CHURCH    IN   THE   UNITED   STATES 
AND   EUROPE. 

Numerical  Strength — Comparison  with  the  Past — Comparison  with  Others — Real  Ex- 
pressions of  Strength— Union  With  <  hrist  — A  (_  lear  Faith— Instruction  of  the 
Young — Aggressiveness — Institutions— Periodicals — Strength  in  other  Lands  .  523 

CHAPTER  XX. 

THE   FUTURE   OF  THE    LUTHERAN   CHURCH. 

Seed  and  Harvest— The  Living  Word—  Providence— Progress  under  Trials— Growth 
in  even  Sphere — Pubic  Recognition— Drawbacks— Advantages -Doctrine— Indoc- 
trination —Popularity — Vast  Material—  onservatism — The  Polyglot  v_  hurch — Pres- 
tige—Trend of  Other  Churches— A  Conviction 53° 


LIST  OF  AUTHORITIES. 


The  following  are  the  principal  works  consulted  in  the  preparation 
of  this  volume  : 

Hallesche  Nachrichten. 

Hallesche  Nachrichten,  Neue  Ausgabe.  I. 

Mann's  Henry  Melchior  Muhlenberg. 

Seidensticker's  Geschichte  der  Deutschen  Oesellschaft. 

Acrelius'  History  of  New  Sweden. 

Schaeffer's  Early  History  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 

Hazelius'  History  of  the  American  Lutheran  Church. 

Schmucker's  Lutheran  Church  in  America. 

Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit. 

Dorchester's  Christianity  in  the  United  States. 

Evangelical  Review. 

Lutheran  Quarterly. 

Lutheran  Church  Review. 

Nicum's  Geschichte  des  New  York  Ministeriums. 

Bernheim's  German  Settlements,  Etc.,  in  the  Carolinas. 

Strobel's  History  of  the  Salzburgers. 

Kurtz's  Church  History. 

Fisher's  History  of  the  Reformation. 

Fisher's  Outlines  of  Universal  History. 

Mommsen's  Provinces  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

Bayne's  Martin  Luther. 

Kostlin's  Life  of  Luther. 

D'Aubgine's  History  of  the  Reformation. 

Robertson's  Charles  V. 

Hausser's  Period  of  the  Reformation. 

Krauth's  Conservative  Reformation. 

Hagenbach's  History  of  the  Church  in  the  iKth  and  19th  centuries. 

Thomasius'  Dogmengeschichte. 

Seiss'  Ecclesia  Lutherana. 

Seiss'  Luther  and  the  Reformation. 

Herzog's  Real-Encyclopsedie. 

Schaff-Herzog  Encyclopsedia. 

Minutes  of  the  different  Synods,  especially  those  of  Pennsylvania 
and  the  General  Synod. 

Proceedings  of  the  Lutheran  Diets,  1878,  1879. 

Morris'  Fifty  Years  in  the  Lutheran  Ministry. 

Briggs'  American  Presbyterianism. 

The  Presbyterian  Quarterly. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Portraits. 

Page. 

Luther — Frontispiece, 

. 

Melancthon, 

73 

Gustavus  Adolphus,      .... 

133 

Muhlenberg,  Henry  Melchior, 

233 

Kunze,  John  C, 

271 

Henkel,  Paul,         ..... 

302 

Schmucker,  S.  S., 

322 

Stork,  Charles  A.,               .... 

356 

Lehman,  W.  F., 

380 

Fritschel,  Gottfried,             .             .             .             . 

386 

Walther,  C.  F.  W.,        . 

406 

Krauth,  Charles  Porterfield, 

432 

Esbjorn,  L.  P., 

453 

Bachman,  John,       . 

464 

Heyer,  C.  F., 

490 

Andrewsen,  0., 

516 

Colleges,  Seminaries,  Etc. 

Augustana  College, 

460 

Augsburg  Seminary,             .             .             .             . 

226 

Bethany  College,           .... 

216 

Capital  University,               .             .             .             . 

204 

Carthage  (Illinois)  College, 

486 

Concordia  College,  (North  Carolina), 

376 

Concordia  Seminary,    .... 

418 

Elk  Horn  (Iowa)  High  School, 

"3 

Gaston  College,             .             .             ... 

526 

Gettysburg  Theological  Seminary, 

34i 

Hagerstown  (Maryland)  Female  Seminary, 

509 

Hartwick  Seminary,             .             .             .             . 

320 

Luther  College,             .... 

128 

Illustrations. 


xix 


Luther  Seminary,    . 

Lutherville  (Maryland)  Female  Seminary, 

Midland  College, 

Missionary  Institute,     . 

Muhlenberg  College, 

Newberry  (South  Carolina)  College, 

Old  Concordia  Seminary,    . 

Pennsylvania  College, 

Philadelphia  Theological  Seminary, 

Roanoke  College, 

Staunton  (Virginia)  Female  Seminary, 

Thiel  College, 

Wagner  Memorial  College, 

Wartburg  College, 

Wartburg  Seminary, 

Wittenberg  College, 

Orphans'  Homes,  Asylums,  Etc. 

Addison  (Illinois)  Lutheran  Orphan  Asylum,  . 

Germantown  (Penn.)  Orphan  Home  and  Asylum,  . 

Jacksonville  (Illinois)  Lutheran  Hospital, 

Mary  J.  Drexel  Home,         .... 

Milwaukee  (Wisconsin)  Lutheran  Hospital, 

St.  John's  Orphan  Home  (For  Boys)  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

St.  Louis  (Missouri)  Lutheran  Hospital, 

St.  John's  Orphan     Home  (For  Girls)  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Toledo  (Ohio)  Lutheran  Orphan  Asylum, 

Tressler  Orphan  Home,       .... 

Wartburg  Orphans'  Farm  School, 

Wernle  Orphan  Home,       .... 

Wittenberg  Orphan  Home, 


Churches. 


First  Lutheran  Church, 

Old  Swedes'  Church  (Gloria  Dei), 

Old  Trappe  Church, 

Old  St.  Michael's  Church, 


Page. 

253 

488 

370 

366 

457 
468 
412 
329 

436 

473 

483 

449 
447 
230 
174 
289 


427 
442 
104 
55 
79 
534 
422 

538 
388 

35i 

43 

383 

317 


139 
155 
237 
262 


xx  Illustrations. 

Page. 

Old  Zion  Church,                 ....  268 

Jerusalem  Church  (Salzburger)  Ebenezer.  Ga.,              .  191 

Church  of  the  Holy  Communion,  Philadelphia,  Penn.,  23 

Danish  Lutheran  Church,          ....  208 

Emanuel's  Lutheran  Church,  New  York,     .             .  29 

First  English  Lutheran  Church,  Pittsburg,  Penn.,          .  31 

Gustavus  Adolphus  Swedish  Luth'n  Church,  New  York,  164 

Memorial  Lutheran  Church,  Washington,  D.  C,           .  65 

St.   Mark's  English  Lutheran  Church,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  70 

St.  Mark's  Lutheran  Church,  Charlotte,  N.  C,             .  27 

St.  Paul's  German  Lutheran  Church,  Chicago,  Ills.,  100 

Seamen's  Norwegian  Lutheran  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  398 

Trinity  Lutheran  Church,  Lancaster,  Penn.,             .  218 

Trinity  German  Lutheran  Church,  Milwaukee,  Wis.,     .  39 

Trinity  Lutheran  Church,  Canton,  Ohio,     .             .  90 

Woman's  Memorial   Lutheran  Church,  Denver,  Colo.,  120 

Miscellaneous. 

Luther  Memorial  Statue,  Washington,  D.  C,    .             .  48 

Concordia  Publishing  House,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,           .  430 

Lutheran  Mission  House,  Rajahmundry,  India,             .  496 

Lutheran  Mission  High  .School,  Rajahmundry,  India,  501 

Lutheran  Mission  Church,  Guntur,  India,         .             .  493 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


CHAPTER   I. 


THE    CHURCH. 


PERHAPS  the  boldest  utterance  ever  heard  upon 
this  earth  was  the  announcement  of  Jesus  that  he 
would  found  an  imperishable  institution.  "Upon 
this  rock  I  will  build  my  Church,  and  the  gates  of  hell 
shall  not  prevail  against  it."  The  universal  destroyer 
shall  fail  to  overcome  the  Church.  Everything  else 
under  the  face  of  the  sun  may  perish.  Thrones  and 
dynasties,  nations  and  kingdoms,  systems  and  creeds, 
may  become  extinct.  Heaven  and  earth  under  this 
mighty  law  shall  pass  away,  but  the  Church  of  Christ 
shall  never  die.  Built  upon  the  eternal  rock  of  truth, 
she  is  indestructible. 

The  sublimity,  the  astounding  significance  of  that 
announcement,  must  ever  challenge  the  attention  of 
thoughtful  minds.  Casting  defiance  at  the  scepter  of 
death,  holding  in  contempt  the  teachings  of  universal 
history,  a  Hebrew  sage,  in  an  obscure  corner  of  the 
world,  and  attended  by  a  few  humble  peasants,  sol- 
emnly avows  his  purpose  to  rear  a  fabric  that  will 
stand  forever !  The  lessons  of  some  thousands  of 
years    had    pretty  well    demonstrated    the    transitory 


22  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

and  perishable  character  of  the  noblest  results  of 
human  endeavor.  Nations  had  succeeded  nations 
and  made  the  record  of  their  achievements  and  their 
glory,  only  to  disappear  again  and  forever.  Colos- 
sal empires,  splendid  civilizations,  hoary  religions, 
profound  philosophies,  vast  monuments  of  art  and 
the  loftiest  creations  of  architectural  genius,  had  fal- 
len into  decay  and  crumbled  into  dust.  Of  all  the 
mighty  past,  nothing  remained  but  a  few  fragmentary 
records,  a  few  sporadic  tenets  of  philosophy,  of  relig- 
ion and  of  civil  government,  a  few  scattered  columns 
on  the  plains  of  Mesopotamia,  and  several  huge  piles 
of  masonry  oh  the  frontier  of  the  Egyptian  desert 
The  earth  was  one  vast  graveyard,  in  which  was 
buried  all  that  a  hundred  generations  had  either 
thought  or  wrought,  with  but  here  and  there  a  broken 
shaft  surviving  to  mark  the  spots  which  entomb  the 
exploits  and  products  of  human  history.  And  stand- 
ing thus  amid  the  shadows  and  ghosts  of  this  uni- 
versal sepulchre,  Christ  declares  his  purpose  of  estab- 
lishing a  Church  that  shall  defy  the  law  of  decay  and 
death. 

And  here,  after  nearly  two  thousand  years,  the 
Church  is  to-day,  with  its  faith  uncorrupted,  its  vitality 
unimpaired,  its  prayers  still  rising  to  God,  its  songs 
never  ending,  its  benedictions  and  benefactions  ever 
widening,  and  its  resolve  to  subdue  the  earth  becom- 
ing  more  and  more  apparent.  Its  pulsations  still  give 
life  to  dying  men,  and  multitudes  all  over  the  earth 
are  fleeine  to  its  shelter  and  clinoqnor  to  its  altars,  as  if 
they  beheld  in  it  the  'one  unfailing  refuge  for  man- 
kind, an  impregnable  fortress  scorning  the  shocks  and 


The  Church. 


23 


storms  of  time,  a  rock  in  the  midst  of  the  sea  unmoved 

by  tempest  or  billow. 

The  indestructibility  of  the  Christian   Church  does 

not,  however,  make   her  proof  against  all  phases  or 

stages  of  cor- 
ruption.  The 
stream  of  living 
water  in  its 
course  from  a 
virgin  spring 
through  many 
lands  into  the 
ocean,  continu- 
ally absorbs 
some  of  the  un- 
clean and  filthy 
deposits  of  the 
shores  it  washes 
and  fructifies. 
Sometimes  even 
very  noxious 
and  poisonous 
ingredients  are 
taken  up  into  the 
waves. 

CHURCH  OF  THE  HOLY  COMMUNION,  PHILADELPHIA,  PA.     Willie    punlying 

and  refreshing 
the  earth  the  noble  river  contracts  in  turn  some  of 
its  corruptions. 

The  vanquished  nation  may  react  upon  the  victors. 
Roman  arms  subdued  the  Greeks,  but  such  was  the 
power  of  Greek  civilization  that  Rome  in  turn  became 


24  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

Hellenized.  The  Greeks  became  the  educators  of  the 
Romans,  and  their  manners,  culture,  art  and  science 
pervaded  the  great  Empire. 

"When  conquered  Greece   brought  in  her  captive  arts, 
She  triumphed  o'er  her  savage  conquerors'  hearts." 

So  powerful  was  this  reaction,  that  while  the  Greek 
States  became  Roman  in  name,  the  Roman  Empire 
itself  in  the  East  became  Greek. 

Christianity  entered  upon  its  career  with  the  pur- 
pose first  to  reduce  to  its  faith  the  Jewish  nation; 
then  began  its  conquest  of  the  Gra;co-Roman  world. 
Afterward  came  its  mission  to  the  barbarians  of  the 
West.  The  task  which  the  Church  thus  set  for  her- 
self, the  complete  moral  revolution  of  society,  in- 
volved the  application  of  superhuman  wisdom  and 
divine  power.  Still  the  work  had  to  be  committed  to 
human  instrumentalities,  with  all  their  limitations, 
their  infirmities,  their  impurities  and  their  suscepti- 
bilities, and  nothing  short  of  a  perpetual  miracle 
could  have  prevented  the  Church  from  being,  in  some 
measure,  contaminated  by  her  contact  for  a  thousand 
years  with  these  hoary  and  corrupt  systems  which  she 
proposed  to  supplant.  The  principles  of  these  sys- 
tems had  entwined  themselves  with  every  institution 
of  society.  They  had  become  inwoven  with  the  whole 
texture  of  domestic  and  public  life,  and  in  the  conflict 
which  now  arose  between  the  new  and  the  old,  some- 
times a  drawn  battle  ensued,  and  sometimes  the  old 
order  made  large  inroads  upon  the  ranks  of  the  new. 

There  was  prodigious  vitality  in  the  institutions 
both  of  Judaism  and  of  Heathenism,  and  though  there 


The  Church.  25 

was  not  that  aggressiveness  which  intrinsically  char- 
acterizes the  Christian  spirit,  yet,  when  it  is  remem- 
bered that  heathen  tenets  and  customs,  in  particular, 
coincided  with  the  natural  tendencies  and  instincts  of 
a  depraved  humanity,  and  that  the  elements  which 
composed  the  Church  were  as  yet  but  partially  freed 
from  these  same  tendencies  and  instincts,  it  may 
readily  be  understood,  how,  in  the  progress  of  the 
contest,  baleful  influences  would  retroactively  pene- 
trate her  bosom.  Insensibly  something  of  the  spirit, 
the  beliefs  and  the  customs  of  the  opposing  institu- 
tions would  invade  the  Christian  community. 

Without  ever  compromising  her  attitude  or  her 
mission,  the  survival  of  depraved  elements  within  the 
pale  of  the  Church,  and  the  character  of  her  surround- 
ings, would  inevitably  expose  her  to  the  taint  of 
extraneous  and  injurious  influences.  In  the  course  of 
her  progress,  while  unfolding  and  dispensing  her  own 
treasures,  she  was  liable  to  absorb,  in  a  measure,  the 
very  errors,  superstitions  and  moral  impurities  which 
she  was  charged  to  combat.  When,  at  a  later  stao-e, 
she  hoped  to  facilitate  the  transition  from  Paganism 
to  Christianity  by  making  concessions  to  heathen  sen- 
timents and  customs,  and  accommodated  herself  to 
national  peculiarities,  the  infection  became  inevitable. 
Her  leaven  that  was  introduced  into  Pagan  society 
yielded  insensibly,  before  its  work  was  completed,  to  a 
counter-leaven.  The  power  that  was  to  conquer  the 
world  suffered  itself  to  some  extent  to  be  conquered 
by  the  world.  The  energy  of  the  contest  became 
gradually  somewhat  relaxed.  The  leaders  of  the 
Church  grew  less  vigilant,  and  ingredients  of  corrup- 


26  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

tion,  penetrated  from  time  to  time  her  bosom  and 
vitiated  her  blood. 

Her  conquests  were  often  so  rapid  and  so  vast  that 
her  capacity  of  assimilation  was  overtaxed.  Like 
America,  opening  her  arms  to  receive  and  civilize  the 
world,  the  Church  found  herself  the  mistress  of  im- 
mense masses  when  she  lacked  adequate  resources  for 
their  instruction  and  spiritual  transformation.  In  this 
way  "gross  errors  incorporated  themselves  in  the  con- 
ceptions of  the  Christian  people  and  in  the  institu- 
tions of  the  Church." 

We  cannot,  in  this  volume,  take  account  of  all  the 
errors  and  abuses  which,  in  the  progress  of  centuries, 
had  corrupted  the  Church  before  the  Reformation. 
Our  reference  must  be  restricted  to  those  which  most 
deeply  affected  her  vital  functions,  and  those  which 
wrought  the  greatest  wrong  and  ruin  to  souls. 

Christianity  is  a  religion  for  the  salvation  of  sin- 
ners. It  answers  the  cry,  "what  must  I  do  to  be  saved  !" 
It  reveals  to  men  a  Father's  love  and  offers  salva- 
tion gratuitously  to  lost  and  guilty  men.  "  By  grace 
ye  are  saved  through  faith,  and  this  not  of  your- 
selves;  it  is  the  gift  of  God."  "Of  his  mercy  he  saved 
us  by  the  washing  of  water  and  the  renewal  of  the 
Holy  Ghost."  "God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave 
his  only  begotten  Son  that  whosoever  believeth  on 
him  might  not  perish  but  have  everlasting  life."  This 
was  the  good  news  proclaimed  to  sinners  by  inspired 
men  who  had  learned  the  gospel  from  the  lips  of  the 
founder  of  the  Church.  And  this  message  brought 
peace  to  the  sinner  and  effected  the  renovation  of 
human   nature.     Alienated  from  the  lite  of  God  and 


The  Church. 


27 


fallen  from  his  primordial  state,  man  possesses  within 
him  no  power  of  self-recovery.  His  own  unaided 
efforts  and  strength  avail  nothing.  Salvation  is  of 
the  Lord.  It  is  a  divine  gift.  It  is  the  outflow  of 
infinite  mercy. 

All  that  devolves  upon  man  is  to  grasp  the  offered 

grace,  to  lay 
hold  of  this  sal- 
vation, each  for 
himself  to  make 
it  his  own  by 
that  confidingr 
attitude,  that 
trustful  action, 
which  is  ex- 
pressed in  the 
simple  exercise 
of  faith  in  the 
offer  and  the 
promises.  Such 
were  the  simple 
terms  on  which 
in  the  Apos- 
tolic Church, 
both  Jews  and 
Heathen.the  no- 
blest alike  with 
the  vilest  of 
men,  obtained  pardon  and  the  grace  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

This  is,  in  fact,  the  feature  which  distinguishes  the 
Christian    religion  from   all    other   religious   systems. 


ST.  MARK  S  LUTHERAN  CHURCH,  CHARLOTTE,  N.  C. 


28  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

So  far  as  the  latter  aim  at  moral  improvement  it  is 
through  the  action  and  works  of  men.  They  assume 
that  there  lies  in  man,  despite  his  ruin  through  sin, 
the  capacity  for  self-redemption,  the  ability  to  effect 
his  own  salvation  Paganism  believes  in  man.  He 
may  save  himself.  Christianity  believes  in  the  Son 
of  God.     There  is  salvation  in  no  other. 

This  vital  truth,  the  very  heart  of  the  Gospel  came, 
in  course  of  time,  to  be  strangely  obscured.  It  was 
practically  set  aside.  The  pagan  idea  of  salvation 
through  personal  endeavor,  through  works  of  self- 
righteousness  and  penance,  usurped  again  the  place 
of  salvation  by  grace.  Instead  of  a  free  gift,  pardon 
was  sought  as  a  reward.  Men  taught  that  it  mi^ht  be 
merited.  By  doing  penance,  by  submitting  to  penal- 
ties imposed  by  the  Church,  by  self-inflicted  sufferings 
and  privations,  by  tears  and  fasts  and  voluntary  mor- 
tifications, the  sinner  could  find  the  deliverance  for 
which  he  sighed.  Instead  of  being  pointed  to  the 
boundless  mercy  of  heaven,  men  were  subjected  to  a 
system  of  cruel  and  rigorous  exactions.  They  were 
required  to  go  barefooted  in  the  cold,  to  exchange 
their  clothing  for  garments  of  torture,  to  undertake  a 
distant  journey,  to  separate  from  their  loved  ones 
and  deprive  themselves  of  the  ioys  of  life,  to  enter 
the  cloister  and  submit  to  a  rigorous  suppression  of 
natural  affection.  Regular  penitential  systems  were 
devised  and  horrible  hardships  prescribed  even  for 
secret  sins.  The  soul  yearning  for  pardon  must 
obtain  by  penance,  by  works,  or  even  by  the  offer  of 
money,  that  salvation  which  was  purchased  for  the 
world    by    the    Redeemer's   blood.      The   essence    of 


EMANUEL'S   LUTHERAN   CHURCH,  ^GERMAN)    NEW  YORK   CITY. 


30  The  LutJierans  i?i  America. 

heathenism,  salvation  by  man,  was  substituted  for  the 
cross  of  Christ,  and  this  fundamental  error  gave  rise 
to  monstrous  conceptions  and  led  to  the  deepest  cor- 
ruptions of  saving-  truth. 

The  human  mind  is  never  so  susceptible  of  delu- 
sions and  so  ready  to  be  misled  and  seduced  as  when 
tormented  by  a  sense  of  guilt  and  perplexed  over  the 
attainment  of  mercy.  Like  the  unfortunate  victim  of 
a  terrible  disease  it  is  ready  to  avail  itself  of  every 
device  and  nostrum  that  promises  to  bring-  relief. 
Now,  relief  was  never  yet  found  by  a  process  of  pen- 
ances, by  a  succession  of  "  works,"  or  by  any  other 
devices  whereby  impotent  man  is  expected  to  com- 
pass his  own  deliverance.  The  more  sincere  and 
determined  the  effort  the  more  clearly  must  the  soul 
realize  its  failure  and  experience  the  impossibility  of 
doing  or  suffering  enough  for  securing  inward  peace 
and  moral  renovation. 

Not  only  the  deluded  people  but  their  pastors  and 
teachers  came  to  realize  this  during  the  middle  ages. 
They  accordingly  devised  a  system  of  exchange,  by 
which  in  lieu  of  the  heavy  burdens  which  they  found 
themselves  unable  to  bear  and  which,  even  when 
borne,  brought  no  salvation,  the  people  might  give  a 
certain  sum  of  money.  A  price  was  fixed  upon  the 
grace  of  God. 

Unlike  Peter,  claimed  as  the  first  Pope,  the  rulers 
of  the  Church  would  sell  God's  gift  for  money.  They 
denied  the  gratuitous  character  of  forgiveness  and 
begfan  to  barter  and  sell  in  the  house  of  God,  like 
those  who  were  driven  from  the  temple  by  the  indig- 
nant Son  of  God.     But  unlike  those  indecent  dealers 


The   Church. 


31 


in  animals  and  coin,  the  priests  of  the  papacy  became 
brokers  in  sin,  they  carried  on  a  traffic  with  human 
guilt.  They  made  merchandise  of  the  Gospel.  They 
sold  pardon  at  a  fixed  sum.      Holding  this  to  be  per- 


FIRST  ENGLISH  LUTHERAN  CHURCH,  PITTSBURG,  PA. 


haps  easier  for  the  penitent,  and  certainly  more  profit- 
able to  a  mercenary  hierarchy,  it  was  proposed,  "For 
a  seven  week's  fast,  you  shall  pay  twenty  pence,  if  you 
are  rich ;  ten  if  less  wealthy  ;  and  three  pence  if  you 
are  poor,  and  so  on  for  other  matters."  Incest,  if 
not  detected,  was   to    cost  five  groats,  if  known  six ; 


32  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

so   there  was  a    stated   price  for  murder,    infanticide, 
adultery,   perjury  and  burglary. 

The  traffic,  which  was  thus  conducted,  is  known 
under  the  name  of  Indulgences.  Originally  and  in 
the  minds  of  the  theologians  this  was  meant  as  a  sys- 
tem of  commutation — the  penitent  paying  a  fine  of 
money  in  lieu  of  some  disciplinary  suffering  he  was 
required  to  undergo.  And  the  benefit  to  accrue 
from  these  Indulgences  was  not  the  divine  mercy, 
but  exemption  from  the  penalties  imposed  by  the 
Church  as  a  just  penitential  reparation  for  sins  com- 
mitted. The  real  effect  of  these  enforced  penances 
was  to  make  the  grace  of  God  of  none  effect,  and  ' 
when  a  pecuniary  consideration  took  their  place  they  - 
led  to  incredible  scandal  and  brought  religion  iritC 
disrepute.  The  idea  which  was  per  se  a  hideous  cari- 
cature of  the  Gospel  soon  developed  into  an  abomi- 
nable traffic  in  the  salvation  of  souls. 

It  is  not  known  that  the  Church  as  such  ever  form 
ally  and  officially  declared  that  an  Indulgence  del1"' 
ered  from  all  sin,  or  was  an  actual  pardon  of  gun 
before  God,  but  many  of  its  agents  affirmed  this  ov^ 
and  over,  and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  multitudes-" 
believed. 

A  Jesuit  historian  speaking  of  the  monks  who 
companied  Tetzel,  the  famous  vender  of  Indulger         >, 
says:  "Some  of  these  preachers  failed  not,  as   us 
to  go  beyond  the  matter  they  were  treating  of,  andt 
far  to  exacfcrerate  the  worth  of  Indulgences,  that  the 
gave   the    people    cause    to    believe    that   they   we, 
assured  of  their  salvation,  and   of  the  deliverance* 
souls  from  purgatory,  so  soon  as  they  had  given  th 


The  Church. 


33 


money."  "Incredible  as  it  may  appear  it  is  the  dark, 
damnable  fact  of  history  that,  in  praising  the  immeas- 
urable value  of  his  wares,  Tetzel  declared  to  his  audi- 
ence that  he  had  saved  more  souls  by  his  Indulgences 
than  the  apostle  had  by  his  sermons,  that  no  sin  was 
so  great  that  an  Indulgence  cannot  remit  it — that 
even  the  sins  one  intends  to  commit  may  be  par- 
doned,   only  pay  well  and  all  will  be  forgiven." 

And  these  payments  were  valid  even   in   the   spir- 
itual world.     If  Indulgences  availed    here   for  those 
who  by  bitter  torments  were  required  to  expiate  their 
offenses,  why  indeed  should  they  not  avail  for    those 
vvho  in   purgatory  are   expiating   sins  for  which  they 
could  not  do  penance  here.     A  regular  tariff  of  Indul- 
-nces  was  provided  by  which  those  burning  in  pur- 
gatory could    have    immediate  exit   from  their  pains, 
iid  those   to  whom  life  on  earth  had   been  turned  to 
irgatorial  fires  might  escape  by  paying  the  required 
"som.     "  The  very  instant  that  the  money  rattles  at 
bottom  of  the  chest,  the  soul  escapes  from  purga- 
;y  and  flies    into  heaven,"  said  Tetzel.     Although 
Q    people    on    receiving   their     Indulgence    had    to 
mise  reformation,  it  was  giving  men,  in  the  name 
he  Church,  permission  to  sin,  and  among  an  ignor- 
ed rude  people  was   tantamount  to  the   encour- 
ent  of  gross  immorality. 

lis  rank  offense  that  smelled  to  heaven  and  cast 

joach   upon   the  Church  resulted  from  the  funda- 

ntal  error  of  substituting  works  for  faith  in  Christ. 

xen  works  were  made  co-ordinate  with  faith,  as  was 

*.  by  the    mediaeval  theology,  and  faith   itself  was 

submission  to  the  Church  and  not  trust  in  Christ, 


34  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

the  consequences  were  no  less  subversive  and  soul- 
destroying.  For,  according  to  the  scriptures,  good 
works  are  not  a  condition  of  salvation  but  the  fruit 
and  manifestation  of  saving  faith. 

Another  departure  from  the  principles  of  the 
Church  as  founded  by  the  Apostles  was  the  institu- 
tion of  a  priesthood  to  intervene  between  man  and 
God.  The  Old  Testament  sacerdotal  service  had 
found  its  fulfilment  in  Jesus  Christ,  "who  offered  one 
sacrifice  for  sins  forever,"  and  who  having  by  this 
"one  offering  perfected  forever  them  that  are  sancti- 
fied," appointed  no  priests  in  his  Church.  In  this 
again  lies  a  broad  and  essential  contrast  between  the 
Christian  religion  and  all  religions  which  are  of 
human  origin.  The  soul,  however  defiled  or  debased, 
has  free  access  to  the  fountains  of  grace.  It  may 
come  into  immediate  communion  with  God.  The 
Gospel  knows  of  no  intervention  between  the  sinner 
and  his  atoning  Savior.  It  presents  a  publican  and 
a  dying  thief  justified  through  the  simple  cry  for 
mercy.  Confident  of  having  a  great  High  Priest,  that 
is  passed  into  the  heavens,  Jesus  the  Son  of  God, 
believers  are  encouraged  to  come  boldly  unto  the 
throne  of  grace,  that  they  may  obtain  mercy,  and  find 
grace  to  help  in  time  of  need.  Heb.  4:  14.  16.  In 
respect  to  immediate  access  to  God  all  are  priest? 
all  have  the  same  rights,  the  same  privileges.  The 
priesthood  is  universal.  The  one  real  Mediator  be- 
tween God  and  man  is  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  our  Advo 
cate  with  the  Father,  who  ever  maketh  intercession 
for  us,  and  who  has  given  his  people  the  inestimable 
promise,  "  Verily,  verily,  I   say  unto   you,  whatsoever 


The  Church.  35 

ye  shall  ask   the   Father   in  my  name,  he  will  give  it 
you." 

This  priceless  gift  of  God,  this  inalienable  right  was 
wrested  from  men  and  vested  in  a  special  order,  a  me- 
diatorial caste,  who  usurped  the  place,  the  office  and 
the  Word  of  Christ,  who  claimed  to  hold  in  trust  the 
treasures  of  grace,  to  have  in  their  possession  the  key 
of  heaven,  and  to  have  exclusive  authority  to  dis- 
pense the  blessing  of  salvation.  They  stationed 
themselves  between  the  soul  and  its  Savior,  denied 
immediate  personal  access  to  God  and  refused  salva- 
tion to  all  who  would  not  seek  it  in  those  forms  and 
channels  of  which  they  claimed  exclusive  control. 
Faith  in  the  priest  became  thus  substituted  for  faith 
in  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  in  fact  this  perversion  of  the 
conditions  of  salvation  involved  in  the  priesthood, 
rendered  it  necessary  to  change  the  essence  of  faith, 
which  from  being  a  confident  reliance  on  the  grace 
of  God  through  Jesus  Christ,  came  to  mean  submis- 
sion to  the  authority  and  declaration  of  the  priest. 
His  forgiveness  was  God's  forgiveness.  From  his  re- 
fusal there  was  no  appeal.  It  meant  exclusion  from 
heaven. 

"  Christendom  was  divided  into  two  unequal  parties: 
on  the  one  side  is  a  separate  caste  of  priests,  daring 
to  usurp  the  name  of  the  Church,  and  claiming  to  be 
invested  with  peculiar  privileges  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Lord  ;  and  on  the  other,  servile  flocks  reduced  to  a 
blind  and  passive  submission — a  people  gagged  and 
fettered,  and  given  over  to  a  haughty  caste." 

To  become  really  pious  one  must  indeed  enter  a 
monastery.     It  was  the  common  belief  that   a    truly 


36  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

religious  life  was  possible  only  in  the  clerical  profes- 
sion or  in  the  monastic  habit.  This  was  represented 
among  other  things  in  a  picture,  which  deeply  im- 
pressed Luther  in  his  childhood:  "The  Church  was 
set  forth  as  a  great  ship  bound  for  heaven,  carrying 
only  the  clergy  and  monks,  while  the  laity  swam 
about  in  the  water,  some  holding  to  ropes  which 
were  thrown  to  them  from  the  ship,  others  drown- 
ing  helplessly  in  the  waves." 

As  grace  was  originally  free  to  all,  as  there  was 
in  the  Christian  community  an  equality  in  privilege 
the  Church  was  really  an  association  of  equals.  It 
formed  a  community  of  brethren,  with  Christ  the 
elder  brother  as  Lord.  No  man  was  called  mas- 
ter. The  Church  was  a  brotherhood,  a  spiritual  de- 
mocracy. The  union  of  its  members  was  not  effected 
through  any  outward  rule,  or  by  the  exercise  of 
any  authoritative  ascendency,  but  a  compact  associa- 
tion was  formed  by  the  bonds  of  a  fraternal  rela- 
tion, by  a  oneness  of  faith  and  purpose,  by  ties  of 
holy  affection,  by  a  common  interest,  spontaneously 
ministering  to  one  another,  and  the  greatest  of 
the  number  were  those  who  ministered.  Christ  re- 
buked all  ambitious  of  pre-eminence  among  his  fol- 
lowers, and  the  Apostles  in  all  their  letters  declined 
to  be  considered  lords  over  God's  heritage,  and 
meekly  avowed  themselves  as  brethren  and  fellow- 
servants  of  all  believers. 

But,  in  course  of  time,  the  organization  of  the 
Church  developed  into  a  powerful  hierarchy,  a  haughty 
aristocracy,  order  towering  above  order,  and  gaining 
such  a  domination  as  to  suppress  not  only  all  equality 


The  Church.  37 

and  fraternity,  but  all  freedom  and  independence, 
the  sordid  lust  of  power  reducing  the  flock  of  Christ 
to  the   most  debasing  enslavement  of  soul  and  body. 

At  last  the  Roman  See  is  made  the  supreme  head 
of  the  Church,  the  monarch  of  Christendom,  the 
infallible  vicar  of  Christ  upon  earth.  Never  before 
had  human  ambition  reached  such  vaulting  audacity. 
The  bishops  of  Rome,  as  if  they  were  the  heirs  of 
the  Caesars  and  had  received  from  them  the  scepter 
of  universal  power,  encroached  age  after  age  upon  the 
rights  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  finally  usurped 
universal  dominion,  claiming  all  people  as  their  sub- 
jects and  requiring  from  all  ranks  absolute  submis- 
sion to  their  commands. 

This  high-handed  and  detestable  usurpation  is 
without  parallel  or  analogy.  Not  content  with  the 
spiritual  authority  which  it  asserted — seeing  in  fact 
that  without  invading  the  domain  of  civil  authority, 
it  could  not  maintain  its  monstrous  despotism  in 
the  Church,  the  papacy  insolently  arrogated  to  it- 
self the  rights  of  princes,  assumed  the  exercise  of 
secular  power,  declared  itself  supreme  over  the  state 
as  well  as  the  Church,  and  claimed  to  be  lord  of  the 
world,  "the  fountain  of  laws,'*  having  jurisdiction 
"over  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth." 

No  such  claims  were  ever  made  for  any  heathen 
deity.  No  such  exorbitant  prerogatives  are  com- 
patible with  the  limitations  of  the  human  mind. 
They  are  conceivable  only  as  belonging  to  the  infi- 
nite God,  and  as  being  exercised  through  his  Son 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Here  is  a  mortal,  sinful  man, 
a  child  of  dust,  exalting  himself  as  God,  so  that  he 


38  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

as  God,  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  shewing  himself 
that  he  is  God,  and  attempting  dominion  over  the 
state,  over  the  Church,  over  the  divine  Word,  over 
the  souls  of  men,  over  earth  and  heaven  and  hell,  a 
dominion  from  which  lay  no  appeal  to  any  higher 
court.     The  Pope  was  in  the  place  of  God. 

Such  a  subversion  of  truth  must  in  the  nature  of 
things  be  attended  by  the  most  baleful  results.  In- 
stead of  being  the  divine  agency  for  the  salvation  of 
sinners  and  the  moral  renovation  of  mankind,  the 
Church  became  a  vast  political  engine  employed 
for  the  aggrandizement  of  power — its  energies  con- 
sumed, and  its  institutions  and  ordinances  debased 
and  prostituted  in  interminable  contests  with  those 
who  bravely  defended  the  rights  of  the  state.  Ab- 
sorbed in  such  pursuits  and  contests  the  bishops  of 
the  Church  could  give  but  little  attention  to  the  main- 
tenance of  her  own  purity,  to  the  removal  of  growing 
errors  and  superstitions,  to  the  instruction  of  the  peo- 
ple and  the  salvation  of  men.  Human  souls,  the 
spiritual  interests  of  the  race,  were  sacrificed  to  the 
accomplishment  of  political  ends,  and  instead  of 
bringing  to  the  weary  the  cup  of  life  the  hierarchy 
was  laying  on  their  necks  an  iron  yoke. 

The  papacy  was,  besides,  often  steeped  in  vices, 
crimes  and  shameful  debaucheries.  The  Holy  Father 
was  surrounded  more  than  once  by  abandoned  wo- 
men. "That  throne  which  pretended  to  rise  above 
the  majesty  of  kings  was  sunk  deep  in  the  dregs  of 
vice,"  and  the  notorious  courtesans,  "Theodora  and 
Marozia  installed  and  deposed  at  their  pleasure  the 
self-styled    masters    of    the    Church    of    Christ,    and 


TRINITY  GERMAN  EVANGELICAL  LUTHERAN  CHURCH,  MILWAUKEE,  WIS. 


40  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

placed  their  lovers,  sons  and  grandsons  in  Saint 
Peter's  chair."  This  was  in  the  tenth  century,  notable 
as  the  darkest  in  the  Christian  era.  But  a  spectacle 
yet  more  infamous  is  presented  by  the  pontifical 
throne  in  the  times  immediately  preceding  the  Ref- 
ormation. The  rapacity,  the  profligacy  and  disso- 
luteness of  the  papal  court  at  that  time  are  incredi- 
ble. Alexander  VI  was  openly  accused  of  incest  and 
every  disgraceful  crime,  and  was  known  to  sacrifice 
every  other  interest  to  the  elevation  of  his  bastard 
children. 

Space  fails  to  speak  here  in  detail  of  other  lep- 
rous taints  which  were  eating-  the  life  out  of  Christi- 
anity.  For  the  divine  institution  of  marriage  and 
the  sacred  precincts  of  the  family,  we  see  the  enforce- 
ment of  celibacy  on  the  clergy  and  its  strongest 
encouragement  on  all  others.  The  monastic  life 
instituted  by  men  was  more  holy  than  the  married 
state  instituted  by  God.  The  home  was  no  place  for 
earnest  piety.  The  convent  was  its  proper  nursery. 
For  the  intercession  of  our  divine  Advocate  were 
substituted  the  prayers  of  the  saints,  and  in  cases 
of  distress  or  calamity  appeals  were  directed  to 
them  and  divine  honors  accorded  them  in  the  very 
temple  of  God.  Images  and  relics  were  endowed 
with  supernatural  qualities,  holiness  became  a  local 
attribute,  and  the  Church  of  God  was  everywhere 
teeming  with  an  idolatry  which,  excepting  in  the 
name  of  the  objects  worshipped,  differed  but  little 
from  the  paganism  of  the  ancient  world. 

All  the  evils  which  prevailed  in  the  Church,  error 
in  doctrine,  misrule  in  administration,  corruption  in 


The  Church.  41 

life,  and  the  manifold  and  terrible  forms  of  oppres- 
sion wrought  remarkably  in  unison  with  each  other 
for  the  development  of  a  colossal  system.  Popes  and 
priests,  superstition  and  salvation  by  human  merit, 
ignorance  and  idolatry,  false  dogmas  and  moral  cor- 
ruption, each  fostered  the  other,  and  all  joined  in 
rearing  a  structure  whose  towers  cast  a  dark  shadow 
on  the  house  of  God,  and  whose  walls  were  able  to 
defy  every  power  on  earth. 

Sad,  indeed,  beyond  description  was  the  state  of 
religion  and  of  morals  throughout  Christendom  in 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteen  centuries.  The  central 
teachings  of  Christ  were  overlaid  with  insidious 
errors.  The  charter  of  the  Church  suffered  grievous 
violence,  her  character  had,  in  great  measure,  become 
changed,  her  attributes  disappeared.  The  consciences 
of  the  people  were  besotted  with  the  perversions  of 
truth  and  stifled  with  a  burden  of  ceremonies.  The 
worst  abuses  had  become  identified  with  relio-ion,  and 
moral  rottenness  that  smelled  to  heaven  was  con- 
suming its  vitals.  The  Church  was  still  the  Church, 
but  "the  whole  head  was  sick,  and  the  whole  heart 
faint." 

The  magnitude  of  these  scandals  was  clearly  recog- 
nized by  enlightened  minds,  and  for  centuries  most 
strenuous  efforts  were  put  forward  for  their  removal 
and  for  the  purging  and  reformation  of  the  Church. 
Every  history  of  that  age,  Catholic  as  well  as  Pro- 
testant, admits  the  fearful  degeneracy  into  which  the 
whole  ecclesiastical  organism  had  sunk.  The  Church 
had  ceased  to  command  any  respect  or  to  exert  any 
moral    influence    over  the    masses.      Secular    princes 


42  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

and  learned  divines  gave  expression  to  the  crying^ 
need  of  a  thorough  reformation  in  head  and  mem- 
bers. Imperial  diets  were  summoned  to  take  in  hand 
the  frightful  abuses  which  were  rife  in  every  quarter, 
and  three  consecutive  Councils  of  the  Church  Univer- 
sal, at  Pisa,  at  Constance,  and  Basle,  were  called 
exclusively  for  the  purpose  of  doing  something  to 
arrest  the  growing  corruption  and  the  general  spirit- 
ual decay.  The  denunciations  which  Luther  uttered 
against  the  Romanism  of  his  day,  were  not  strictly 
original  with  him.  They  had  been  repeated  again 
and  again  by  the  staunchest  Romanists,  long  be- 
fore Luther  was  born.  Open  the  literature  of  the 
fourteenth  and  the  fifteenth  centuries  and  your  eyes 
will  stare  and  the  blood  will  curdle  at  the  exposure 
there  made  of  prevailing  corruptions  in  all  spheres 
and  ranks  of  the  Church.  This  is  in  fact  the  reason 
why  a  Catholic  Emperor,  for  a  long  time,  refused  to 
have  the  Reformer  burned  at  the  stake.  He  knew 
that  his  denunciation  of  the  existing  order  was  but 
the  language  of  the  most  pronounced  and  loyal 
Catholic  divines  in  former  years,  that  he  was  voicing 
the  sentiment  of  millions  of  his  contemporaries.  Sec- 
ular princes,  like  George  of  Saxony,  who  bitterly 
hated  Luther  and  would  gladly  have  executed  him, 
denounced  in  unmeasured  and  scathing  terms  the  en- 
croachments of  Rome,  made  a  withering  exposure  of 
the  prevalent  scandals,  and  brought  forward  more 
than  one  hundred  grievances  which  they  requested 
the  Emperor  to  have  rectified,  while  they  conjured 
him  to  order  a  general  reformation,  and  himself 
to  undertake  its  accomplishment. 


The  Church. 


43 


This  historic  circumstance  reveals  the  desperate 
pass  to  which  things  had  come:  powerful  princes  cry- 
ing out  against  the  rapacity  and  oppression  of  the 
Church,  and  appealing  to  the  sovereign  representa- 
tive of  the  nation  to  interpose  for  their  relief,  and  that 
too  when  the  Church  claimed  to  have  not  only  a 
spiritual  mission  to  lighten  the  sorrows  of  men  and 
to  raise  them  to  freedom  and  happiness,  but  asserted 


WARTBURG   ORPHANS'    FARM    SCHOOL,    MOUNT   VERNON,    N.   Y. 

also  political  prerogatives  which  secured  for  it  the 
freest  access  to  their  souls  and  consciences.  It  was 
at  this  juncture,  when  the  wisest  men  despaired  of 
help  from  that  institution  which  claimed  to  hold  in 
its  bosom  all  truth  and  grace,  it  was  then  that  they 
turned  to  a  political  ruler  for  the  salvation  of  man- 
kind. The  shelter  of  the  lambs  had  become  a  den 
of  tigers  and  lions.     The  situation  bordered  on  despair. 


CHAPTER   II, 


THE    REFORMATION. 


CHRIST  had  not  abandoned  his  Church.  He  had 
not  forgotten  the  promise  of  his  abiding  pres- 
ence. His  hand  in  the  supreme  hour  of  need 
brought  deliverance.  Aye,  long  before  the  supreme 
hour  had  arrived,  his  providence  was  at  work,  slowly 
maturing  the  elements  and  gathering  the  forces  by 
which  might  be  effected  a  thorough  reformation  of  the 
Christian  community.  History  has,  by  a  number  of  ex- 
amples, taught  us  that  the  interventions  of  God  in 
human  affairs  do  not  occur  with  magical  suddenness 
nor  as  isolated  phenomena,  but  that  they  involve  a 
vast  sweep  of  events  and  evolutions,  all  converging  to 
the  same  consummation.  The  century  immediately 
anterior  to  the  outbreak  of  the  Reformation  was  so 
marked  with  great  historic  movements,  and  these 
movements  had  so  direct  and  powerful  a  bearing  on  the 
Reformation,  as  to  indicate,  unmistakably,  the  agency 
of  superhuman  wisdom  and  Almighty  power,  not  only 
in  the  ecclesiastical  reform  itself,  but  in  the  extraordi- 
nary phenomena  which  combined  to  usher  it  into  ex- 
istence. The  evidences  of  a  far-reaching,  all-compre- 
hending Providence  are  incontrovertible.  The  Refor- 
mation was  the  work  of  God,  a  work  not  of  a  day,  or  a 
year,  or  a  generation,  but  stretching  its  roots  far  back 
into  preceding  centuries,  and  reaching  its  crisis  at  the 
signal  of  Luther's  hammer.  An  amazing  concert  of 
most  diverse  movements  toward   one  end  marks  the 


44 


The  Reformation.  45 

whole  period.  Momentous  changes  were  taking  place 
in  the  realm  of  ideas,  of  government,  of  inventions  and 
of  discoveries,  at  once  producing  and  proclaiming  a 
general  awakening  of  society,  and  all  not  only  singular- 
ly coincident  with  but  most  strikingly  convergent  to 
a  common  result. 

The  great  historians  have  recognized  this  singular 
concurrence  of  extraordinary  events  in  the  political 
and  social  life  of  Europe  during  the  period  preceding 
the  Reformation.  Even  the  famous  naturalist,  Baron 
Von  Humboldt,  pauses  in  his  scientific  studies  to  ob- 
serve:  "The  fifteenth  century  belongs  to  those  re- 
markable epochs  in  which  all  the  efforts  of  the  mind 
indicate  one  determined  and  general  character,  and 
one  unchanging  striving  towards  the  same  goal.  The 
unity  of  this  tendency  and  the  results  by  which  it  was 
crowned,  combined  with  the  activity  of  whole  races, 
give  to  this  age  a  character  both  of  grandeur  and  of 
enduring  splendor." 

A  revival  of  learning  had  been  kindled  through  the 
advent  of  Greek  scholars  who,  on  the  fall  of  Constan- 
tinople, sought  refuge  in  Italy.  The  western  world 
awakened  from  the  slumber  of  ages,  and  one  of  the 
mightiest  intellectual  revolutions  ever  known  occurred 
just  in  time  to  become  one  of  the  potent  factors  in  se- 
curing the  triumph  of  the  Reformation.  The  human 
mind  became  once  more  conscious  of  its  powers,  and 
proceeded  to  assert  its  inalienable  freedom  of  expan- 
sion, of  activity,  of  inquiry,  and  of  criticism,  thus  break- 
ing the  bonds  of  sacerdotal  training,  by  which  it  had 
for  ages  been  held  in  subjection  and  in  ignorance. 
This  intellectual  awakening  gave  a  powerful   momen- 


46  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

turn  to  literary  culture,  kindling  new  aspirations,  pro- 
ducing new  tastes,  opening  up  new  worlds  in  the  spir- 
itual and  physical  universe,  liberalizing  and  broaden- 
ing the  views  of  men,  stimulating  in  them  the  search 
after  truth  and  giving  them  new  methods  for  its  dis- 
covery and  new  weapons  for  its  defense. 

The  movement  affected  all  classes.  Monarchs  on 
their  thrones,  like  Maximilian  I,  Henry  VIII,  and 
Frederick  of  Saxony,  applauded  it ;  illustrious  knights 
like  von  Hutten,  in  order  to  share  the  glory  of  the 
new  conquests  exchanged  the  sword  for  the  pen  ;  the 
common  people,  held  for  ages  in  abject  bondage,  con- 
tracted a  taste  for  intellectual  liberty  and  an  appetite 
for  intellectual  food.  The  human  mind  was  thus 
providentially  prepared  for  the  Reformation.  It 
had  its  eyes  open  for  the  light  about  to  burst  upon 
the  world.  It  was  armed  for  the  coming  contest 
between  the  old  and  the  new. 

And  just  at  this  juncture  came  the  art  of  printing, 
an  invention  which  in  its  boundless  influence  on  hu- 
man society  surpasses  all  other  inventions  ever  de- 
vised by  man,  and  which,  arriving  at  that  epoch,  added 
its  own  peculiar  excitement  to  intellectual  activity, 
and  in  conjunction  with  the  revival  of  literature  be- 
came a  prodigious  factor  in  bringing  about  the  great 
moral  revolution  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

Just  at  this  time,  too,  mariners  having  learned  the 
use  of  the  magnetic  compass,  crossed  the  trackless 
oceans  and  made  the  discovery  of  new  worlds,  which 
in  turn  again  produced  new  impulses  and  new  ideas, 
widened  the  horizon  of  thought  and  endeavor, 
prompted  the  initial  steps  of  colonization,  gave  a  vast 


The  Reformation.  47 

expansion  to  commerce  and  international  intercourse, 
and  to  an  incalculable  extent  affected  the  intellect- 
ual, social  and  moral  interests  of  mankind. 

Simultaneously  with  the  new  learning  we  witness 
a  great  reaction  of  national  feeling;.  Nations  become 
conscious  of  their  rights  and  their  power.  Civil  gov- 
ernment is  undergoing  a  proces  of  centralization  and 
consolidation.  Monarchies  are  acquiring  a  firm  or- 
ganization and  growing  into  compact  state  systems, 
with  rulers  capable  of  withstanding  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  papacy  and  repelling  its  insolent  assump- 
tions. It  was  of  immense  consequence  to  the  Re- 
formation that  just  before  or  simultaneously  with  its 
rise,  princes  like  Ferdinand  of  Arragon,  Maximilian  of 
Austria,  Frederick  of  Saxony,  Charles  V  of  Germany 
and  Henry  VIII  of  England,  were  on  the  throne, 
monarchs  who,  though  they  had  been  carefully  train- 
ed by  the  clergy,  yet  had  been  sufficiently  enlightened 
by  the  new  learning  to  recognize  the  usurpations  of 
the  popes  and  to  gauge  their  proficiency  in  the  basest 
arts  of  diplomacy  and  dissimulation.  Loyal  sons  of 
the  Church,  as  these  princes  were,  they  could  detect  a 
scoundrel  under  pontifical  robes,  and  they  had  no 
scruple  in  opposing  with  all  the  might  of  secular 
power,  those  Holy  Fathers  who  were  prostituting 
their  spiritual  functions  for  political  ends. 

Along  with  the  establishment  of  stalwart  monarch- 
ies, this  era  was  marked  also  by  the  powerful  develop- 
ment of  free  cities,  composed  of  the  sturdy  middle 
classes,  communities  whose  diversified  industry  and 
extensive  commerce  had  sharpened  and  invigorated 
their   practical    understanding,  and  who  long  before 


THE    MARTIN    LUTHER    MEMORIAL   STATUE,    WASHINGTON,    D.    C. 


The  Reformation.  49 

the  appearance  of  Luther  had  learned  to  defend  their 
rights  against  imperious  bishops.  A  great  revolution 
in  the  Church  would  have  been  impossible  without  a 
profound  change  in  the  popular  sentiment  toward  the 
hierarchy.  The  disenchantment  of  the  masses  with 
reference  to  Holy  Mother  Church  must  be  effected, 
the  faith  of  mankind  in  the  spiritual  authority  of  the 
clergy  must  be  shattered,  before  any  success  could 
attend  so  radical  a  reformation  as  was  called  for. 
Nothing  of  abiding  results  can  be  achieved  independ- 
ently of  the  people.  And  the  people  had  gradually 
come  to  open  their  eyes.  The  reactions  and  com- 
plainings of  a  thousand  years  had  acted  upon  the 
popular  mind.  Men  had  grown  familiar  with  the 
idea,  often  broached,  that  the  pope  was,  after  all,  a 
mere  man,  sometimes  even  a  very  bad  man.  "The 
people  in  general  began  to  suspect  that  he  was  not 
much  holier  than  their  own  bishops,  whose  reputation 
was  very  equivocal.  The  indignation  of  Christen- 
dom had  been  excited  by  the  immorality  of  the  popes, 
and  a  hatred  of  the  Roman  name  was  deeply  seated 
in  the  hearts  of  nations."  Everywhere,  from  high  to 
low,  was  heard  a  hollow  murmur,  a  forerunner  of  the 
thunderbolt  that  was  soon  to  fall. 

And  surely  not  the  most  insignificant  agent  in  the 
providential  concurrence  of  historic  phenomena  was 
the  presence  of  the  Turk  on  the  frontier  of  the  Em- 
pire. As  often  as  the  Catholic  states  were  on  the 
verge  of  making  deadly  war  upon  the  Protestants,  a 
sudden  invasion  of  the  Turkish  legions  compelled  the 
union  of  the  German  armies  in  a  defensive  campaign 
against  the  common  foe. 


50  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

An  extraordinary  unity  of  purpose  is  thus  revealed 
by  a  series  of  remarkable  movements  and  the  co- 
working  of  the  most  diverse  elements  on  the  eve  of 
the  Reformation — a  drama  of  Providence  that  chal- 
lenges the  admiration  of  the  philosopher,  the  faith  of 
the  Christian  and  the  abiding  gratitude  of  the  Pro- 
testant  world. 

Think  of  it!  Mahomet  and  Columbus,  Charles  V 
and  Henry  VIII,  Frederick  the  Wise  and  Ulrich  von 
Hutten  Guttenberg  and  Erasmus,  men  of  the  most 
opposite  character  and  aim,  all  combining  to  bring 
about  the  same  tremendous  result,  all  unconsciously 
moving  in  chorus  to  the  same  consummation,  destroy- 
ing the  prestige  of  the  Roman  See,  effecting  intellect- 
ual and  spiritual  emancipation,  producing  a  porten- 
tous disaffection  with  the  existing  order,  and  bring- 
ing on  a  profound  crisis  in  society,  so  that  princes 
and  peoples,  philosophers  and  peasants,  stood  like 
sentinels  on  their  watch-towers  waiting  for  a  mighty 
revolution,  listening-  for  the  first  blast  of  Luther's 
trumpet. 

They  did  not  listen  in  vain.  The  man  for  the 
hour  was  at  hand.  The  same  Lord  who,  by  sun- 
dry agencies  and  in  diverse  manners,  had  marshalled 
and  equipped  his  forces  for  the  great  battle,  had  also 
raised  up  and  trained  his  servant  to  take  the  com- 
mand of  these  forces  and  to  lead  them  on  to  victory, 
to  impersonate  the  gigantic  revolution  and  to  con- 
trol the  introduction  of  a  new  era. 

Whenever  the  clock  strikes,  the  man  for  the  hour 
appears  upon  the  stage.  To  rescue  truth  from  its 
enemies,  to  deliver  a  people  from  oppression  or  an- 


The  Reformation.  5  1 

archy,  to  effect  beneficent  revolutions  in  society, — 
in  each  momentous  crisis  the  very  man  required  by 
the  occasion  is  sure  to  come  to  the  kingdom  for  such 
a  time  as  this.  Moses,  David,  Cyrus,  Alexander,  Cae- 
sar, Paul,  Charlemagne,  Cromwell,  Washington,  Lin- 
coln, were  not  evolved  from  a  fortuitous  concourse 
of  atoms.  They  were  men  sent  from  God,  and  came 
endowed  with  the  faculties  required  for  their  task 
and  singularly  fitted  by  peculiar  experiences  to  ac- 
complish their  mission.  In  each  case  the  man,  the 
time,  and  the  work  coincided. 

Of  no  one  is  this  more  manifestly  true  than  of 
Martin  Luther,  a  a-enius  "in  whom  was  found  the 
rarest  combination  of  all  the  gifts  and  qualities  of 
spirit,  mind,  character  and  will,  requisite  to  the  great 
work.  He  was,  moreover,  providentially  trained  for 
his  high  mission  by  the  events  of  his  life,  and  by 
being  made  to  experience  in  his  own  soul  the  essen- 
tial principles  of  the  Reformation."  He  must  needs 
also  have  such  undeniable  proofs  of  their  divine 
power  as  impelled  him  irresistably  to  communicate 
to  the  world  this  most  sacred  and  precious  experi- 
ence of  his  life.  Bayne,  an  English  layman,  says: 
"The  persuasion,  in  its  various  degrees  of  strength, 
from  a  mere  admission  of  possibility  up  to  impas- 
sioned confidence,  that  Luther  was  a  man  of  God 
empowered  to  speak  to  his  generation,  not  only  per- 
vaded the  mass  of  his  followers,  already  in  the  end 
of  1520  an  enormous  multitude,  but  had  a  potent  in- 
fluence upon  those  who  resisted  him  *  *  *  The 
sentiment  of  Europe,  a  sentiment  diffused  in  the 
courts  of  princes  and  penetrating  to  the  inner  cham- 


52  The  LittJicrans  in  America. 

bers  of  the  Vatican  itself  was  to  the  effect  that 
if  one  went  to  inquire  of  God,  a  more  authentic  mes- 
sage from  Him  might  be  had  through  this  blameless 
monk,  this  preacher  of  righteousness,  than  by  the 
lips  of  lordly  cardinals,  or  of  Leo  spurred  and  booted 
for  the  chase." 

On  this  man  was  devolved  the  stupendous  task  of 
rescuing  the  Christian  Church  from  tyranny,  fetters, 
and  corruption.  And  Rome  had  herself  forged  the 
weapon  that  was  destined  to  smite  her.  If  there 
ever  was  a  devoted  son  of  the  Church,  if  ever  the 
papistic  usurpation  had  ingrained  itself  in  the  soul  of 
a  devotee,  if  ever  a  mortal  had  with  all  his  mieht 
endeavored  to  follow  the  prescribed  coarse  of  seek- 
ing salvation  by  works,  that  mortal  was  Martin  Lu- 
ther. 

Reared  in  the  domestic  austerity,  which  was  en- 
forced by  the  legalistic  rigor  of  the  papal  system,  his 
mind  had  early  been  filled  with  the  superstitions 
which  were  incorporated  with  a  debased  Christianity, 
while  he  was  withal  possessed  of  the  strongest  in- 
stincts cf  reverence  and  religious  feeling-,  rendering 
him  peculiarly  susceptible  to  the  gloom  and  awe  dif- 
fused by  the  spiritual  instruction  of  the  age.  All 
sacred  things  had  become  associated  with  a  trans- 
cendency of  terror.  Even  Christ,  the  dear  Redeemer, 
"was  throned  in  terror,  an  iron-featured  judge,  whose 
breath  was  consuming  fire.  Only  through  Mary,  his 
tender,  Virgin  Mother,  could  one  safely  and  hopefully 
approach  Christ  himself."  Young  Martin  was,  in  the 
course  of  time,  occupied  with  the  thought  of  monkish 
holiness,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  sought  refuge 


The  Reformation.  53 

from  an  angry  God  within  the  precincts  of  a  cloister. 
There,  by  dint  of  hard  endeavor  and  cruel  self-morti- 
fications, he  hoped  to  work  out  his  salvation  and  pro- 
pitiate that  gruesome,  terrific  judge  which  Jesus 
Christ  had  been  represented  to  him  in  all  the  teach- 
ings he  had  received  both  in  school  and  at  church. 
Of  faith  in  Christ,  as  the  simple,  gracious  way  of  par- 
don, he  had  positively  never  heard.  His  whole  trust 
had  been  placed  in  Mary.  Although,  on  one  occa- 
sion, when  he  sank  to  the  earth  from  the  shock  of  a 
deafening  thunder-clap,  he  addressed  another  saint, 
crying  out  as  soon  as  he  recovered  consciousness, 
''Help,  sweet  Saint  Anne;  save  me,  save  me,  and  I 
will   become  a  monk." 

The  liberator  of  the  Church  must  needs  himself 
have  endured  the  horrors  of  slavery.  The  deliverer 
of  his  age  from  the  wretched  superstitions  under 
which  it  eroaned,  must  first  himself  have  felt  their  bale- 
ful  power.  It  was  Paul's  personal  experience  of  the 
hard  Pharisaic  bondage  that  afterwards  enabled  him, 
as  a  freeman  of  Christ,  to  strike  its  fetters  from  the 
Christian  conscience.  So  with  Luther.  On  entering 
the  cloister  the  monks  at  once  subjected  their  learned 
and  distinguished  novice  to  the  harshest  treatment 
and  imposed  upon  him  the  most  menial  service.  His 
mind  must  be  humbled,  his  spirit  broken,  by  the  most 
humiliating  offices.  He  cleans  out  the  cells,  sweeps 
the  Church,  and  traverses  the  street  with  a  wallet  beg- 
ging bread  from  house  to  house.  Returning  within 
the  walls  he  must  shut  himself  up  in  a  low,  narrow  cell, 
and  to  all  this  he  submits  willingly.  He  renounces 
not   only  what   is   pleasing  to  the  flesh,  but   even   the 


c^4  The  Lutherans   in  America. 

books  that  regale  the  mind,  determined  to  be  out  and 
out  a  monk,  and  perform  all  the  works  and  mortifica- 
tions, and  to  undergo  all  the  outrageous  severities 
and  cruelties  of  an  unnatural  and  monstrous  asceti- 
cism. 

At  a  later  period,  when  allowed  to  resume  his  stud- 
ies, he  pursued  them  with  such  zest  that  he  often  hap- 
pened not  to  repeat  the  daily  prayers  for  three  or 
four  weeks  together.  Then  becoming  alarmed  at  this 
violation  of  the  monastic  rules,  he  shut  himself  up 
"and  began  to  repeat  conscientiously  all  the  prayers 
he  had  omitted,  without  a  thought  of  either  eating 
or  drinking.  Once,  even  for  seven  weeks  together,  he 
scarcely  closed  his  eyes  in  sleep."  Nothing  was  too 
great  a  sacrifice  for  him  in  order  to  secure  holiness. 
He  was  resolved  to  merit  heaven  by  abstinence. 
"Never,"  says  a  historian,  "did  the  Romish  Church 
possess  a  more  pious  monk.  Never  did  cloister  wit- 
ness more  severe  and  indefatigable  exertions  to  pur- 
chase eternal  salvation." 

After  he  had  entered  upon  his  reforming  work,  and 
boldly  announced  that  heaven  could  not  be  obtained 
by  such  means  he  adds  ;  "If  ever  monk  could  obtain 
heaven  by  his  monkish  works,  I  should  certainly 
have  been  entitled  to  it.  Of  this  all  the  friars 
who  have  known  me  can  testify.  If  it  had  continued 
much  longer,  I  should  have  carried  my  mortifications 
even  to  death,  by  means  of  my  watchings,  prayers, 
reading,  and  other  labors." 

He  knew  the  bitterness  of  that  cup,  which  Rome 
compelled  her  subjects  to  drain,  and  he  knew,  too, 
that  it  was  no  cup  of  salvation.     The  cloister  brought 


56  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

him  no  repose.  It  gave  his  conscience  no  peace. 
The  assurance  of  pardon,  which  he  craved,  continued 
to  be  his  ever-crying  want,  despite  the  fastings,  watch- 
ings,  and  other  outward  observances  to  which  he 
attended  so  faithfully.  The  fears  and  terrors  which 
had  driven  him  within  the  walls  of  a  cell  pursued 
him  within  and  plunged  him  into  despair.  The  more 
he  strove  to  appease  the  anger  of  God,  the  darker 
became  the  vision  of  his  sins,  the  more  polluted  his 
heart,  and  the  more  frightful  his  agonies  of  contrition. 
He  says  that  he  had  recourse  to  a  thousand  methods 
to  stifle  the  cries  of  his  conscience.  Every  day  he 
went  to  confession,  but  found  it  of  no  avail. 

Discovering  at  last  the  impossibility  of  propitia- 
ting God  and  securing  salvation  by  his  own  merits, 
realizing  the  impotency  and  worthiessness  of  all  these 
rigorous  and  irrational  expedients,  utterly  disappointed 
in  his  expectations  of  becoming  holy,  and  finding  that 
notwithstanding  his  penances  and  confessions,  monas- 
tic austerities  and  priestly  absolutions  he  was  yet  a 
lost  soul,  his  life  became  a  mortal  struorode.  "The 
young  monk  crept  like  a  shadow  through  the  long 
galleries  of  the  cloister  that  re-echoed  with  his  sor- 
rowful moanings."  His  body  wasted  away.  His 
strength  beo-an  to  fail.     His  bones  could  be  counted. 

o  o 

His  eyes  were  sunken.  He  was  found  lying  insensible 
on  a  stone  floor.  For  days  he  remained  like  one 
dead,  exhausted  by  the  struggles  and  storms  through 
which  he  was  passing. 

A  truer  portrait  of  Romanism  in  its  error  and  its 
impotence  can  nowhere  be  found.  Luther's  personal 
experience   is   the   best   commentary  on    the   corrupt 


The  Reformation.  57 

teachings    and    the    pernicious    practices  which    then 
universally  prevailed. 

But  his  coming  to  the  light  and  peace  of  the  gospel 
is  also  the  best  illustration,  the  living  embodiment  of 
the  Reformation  of  which  he  was  the  peerless  and 
immortal  hero.  Luther's  religious  experience  was 
the  mirror,  the  microcosm,  of  the  Reformation.  His 
rich  nature  compassed  all  its  element.  Such  were 
his  great  talents  and  characteristics,  and  such  the 
situation  of  Europe  at  the  time,  "that  the  Reforma- 
tion, in  fact,  passed  from  the  mind  of  the  one  into  the 
mind  of  the  other."  It  pleased  God  to  reveal  in  his 
earnest  soul,  his  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  the  bearer  of  the 
world's  sin,  and  then  the  Reformation  sprang  living 
from  his  heart. 

While  he  continued  to  torture  his  bosom  with  vows 
and  works,  and  a  thousand  insupportable  tasks,  Stau- 
pitz,  the  general  of  the  Augustinians,  came  providen- 
tially on  a  visit  of  inspection.  Himself  a  subject  of 
saving  grace,  he  not  only  recognized  the  deep  unrest 
and  melancholy  of  Luther,  with  which  others  had 
grown  familiar,  but  he  also  clearly  understood  the 
nature  of  the  struggle  through  which  he  was  passing, 
and  earnestly  pointed  him  to  the  wounds  of  Jesus 
Christ,  to  the  blood  shed  for  his  sins,  and  urged  him 
to  cast  himself  into  the  Redeemer's  arms,  and  to  trust 
in  him  for  righteousness.  God  is  love  and  his  favor 
is  not  to  be  sought  with  self-torture  and  mortifica- 
tions.  With  these  instructions  came  sweet  peace  into 
his  storm-tossed  breast,  as  when  the  Master  calmed 
the  waves  of  Galilee.  It  seemed  to  Luther  that 
Jesus    Christ    himself  was    addressing  to   him    these 


58  The  Lutherans   in  America. 

sweet  and  healing  words.  He  is  assured  of  the  for- 
giveness of  his  sins.  A  mighty  change  passed  over 
his  spirit.  Repentance,  which  had  been  the  bitterness 
of  anguish,  turned  now  to  sweetness  and  delight. 
And  the  Scriptures — what  a  new  meaning  they  pos- 
sess !  What  an  illumination  has  come  over  them ! 
He  studies  them  with  ever-increasing  zeal,  and  they  en- 
ter his  mind  like  great  streams  of  light.  "  His  struggles 
have  prepared  his  heart  to  understand  the  Word.  The 
soil  has  been  ploughed  deep  ;  the  incorruptible  seed 
sinks  into  it  with  power."  He  has  found  the  Saviour. 
He  has  found  his  gospel.  He  has  received  salvation 
immediately  from  God,  and  on  the  warrant  of  His 
Word.  A  voice  of  thunder  resounds  unceasingly 
within  his  breast,  "the  just  shall  live  by  faith."  The 
Spirit  of  God  kept  pressing  these  words  upon  his 
heart,  until  he  clearly  learned  that  a  sinner's  justi- 
fication proceeds  from  the  mercy  of  God  through 
faith,  and  then  he  says,  "  I  felt  born  again  like  a 
new  man." 

The  Reformation  was  born.  Luther  himself  does 
not  yet  perceive  it,  though  his  own  experience  is  the 
epitome  and  the  prophecy  of  the  impending  crisis. 
In  its  essential  features  it  has  been  wrought  out  and 
mirrored  in  Luther's  soul.  "What  was  to  revolu- 
tionize Christendom  and  start  afresh  the  course  of 
history  first  revolutionized  Luther  and  started  him 
in  the  new  life."  A  new  morning  dawned  upon  the 
world. 

Experience  is  the  sovereign  test  of  truth.  Here 
was  an  earnest  and  highly  gifted  soul  seeking  its  own 
salvation,  and  trying  all  the  expedients  which  a  degene- 


The  Reformation.  59 

rate  system  had,  from  time  to  time,  invented  and  sanc- 
tioned, but  only  to  sink  deeper  into  the  mire  of  his 
sinfulness  and  spiritual  helplessness.  At  last  he  is 
brought  to  trust  himself  solely  to  the  mercy  of  God 
in  Christ  Jesus,  and  his  conscience  has  peace,  his  soul 
has  an  accession  of  spiritual  power. 

It  was  not  a  momentary  thrill  that  passed  over  his 
bosom.  It  was  not  an  evanescent  calm  experienced 
by  a  storm-tossed  mind.  It  was  a  passage  from  dark- 
ness to  light,  from  helpless  prostration  to  spiritual 
energy,  and  new  light  and  new  strength  continued  to 
pour  into  his  breast.  If  periods  of  despondency 
returned,  and  the  dreadful  nature  of  sin  pressed  again 
heavily  upon  him,  he  made,  in  each  instance,  a  fresh 
application  of  the  same  remedy,  and  every  time  it 
availed  for  the  same  result.  He  found  assurance  of 
salvation.  He  attained  the  abiding  joyous  freedom 
of  God's  children. 

All  the  ordinances  and  devices  of  the  Romish 
Church  having  failed  Luther  in  the  supreme  crisis  of 
his  conversion,  he  gradually  came  to  recognize  their 
uselessness  and  utter  worthlessness.  Of  what  value 
are  fasts  and  penance  and  self-mortifications,  priestly 
manipulations  and  all  the  mediatorial  assump- 
tions of  the  clergy,  if  they  fail  to  bring  the  sinner  to 
his  Savior?  And  when  simple  faith  lands  him  in 
the  Savior's  arms,  what  further  need  has  the  soul 
of  them  anyhow?  Turning  away  from  all  such  expe- 
dients Luther  cast  himself  immediately  upon  the 
warm  bosom  of  his  Lord.  He  found  pardon  and  jus- 
tification by  faith  alone. 

As  the  light  grew  brighter  in  his  soul  the  surround- 


60  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

ing  darkness  became  to  his  eyes  more  and  more  ap- 
palling-. The  grossness  and  pernicious  character  of 
the  abounding  corruption  began  to  weigh  heavily 
upon  his  mind.  The  vast  system  of  works,  and  merits, 
and  satisfaction,  and  indulgences,  he  now  discovered 
to  be  at  war  with  the  central  doctrine  of  Christianity, 
salvation  by  grace.  Yet  everywhere  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities  upheld  these  as  the  requisite  conditions  of 
salvation,  lauded  the  purchasing  power  of  human 
merit,  stamped  a  false  value  upon  man's  righteous- 
ness before  the  divine  judge,  and  treated  the  whole 
subject  of  redemption  as  if  it  were  a  commercial 
transaction  between  God  and  the  sinner,  the  latter 
furnishing  from  his  own  bankrupt  store  a  fair  equiva- 
lent for  the  grace  received,  the  priest  acting  as  the 
intermediate  agent. 

In  the  Bible,  a  copy  of  which,  to  his  great  sur- 
prise, he  found  one  day  in  the  University  library, 
he  found  none  ot  these  things.  The  way  of  salva- 
tion, as  there  portrayed,  is  the  very  way  now  reached 
by  his  wandering  feet.  The  answer  which  in  his 
profound  distress  came  to  Luther,  "  Believe  on  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved,"  was  the 
answer  of  an  inspired  Apostle — it  was,  in  fact,  the  an- 
swer of  the  Lord  Jesus  who  came  into  the  world  to 
save  sinners,  and  who  by  the  shedding  of  his  precious 
blood  has  opened  a  new  and  living  way  unto  God.  It 
is  the  answer  throughout,  of  the  Scriptures,  which  re- 
veal the  way  of  salvation.  It  is  the  voice  of  God. 
The  answer  of  Rome,  on  the  other  hand,  was,  "Sub- 
mit to  the  Church,  perform  good  works,  seek  priestly 


The  Reformation.  61 

mediation,  do  penance,  make  satisfaction."  This  does 
not  accord  with  that.     It  is  the  voice  of  man. 

Thus  by  the  stress  of  circumstances,  and  through  a 
profound  personal  experience,  Luther  came  gradually 
to  doubt  the  infallibility  of  the  Church,  and  with  this 
to  question  its  authority.  It  was  a  hard  struggle 
with  him — for  he  had  been  a  most  loyal  son  of  the 
Church.  He  had  most  humbly  and  unquestionably 
received  her  teachings.  Even  after  his  enlightenment 
he  clung  with  obstinacy  to  her  papal  head,  and  it  was 
a  terrible  discovery  for  him  to  learn  that  after  all  she 
was  not  the  depositary  of  infallible  truth,  her  author- 
ity was  not  supreme,  the  fathers  and  bishops  and 
popes  had  made  departures  from  the  Scriptures,  Coun- 
cils were  but  an  aggregate  of  fallible  men,  and  had 
pronounced  in  favor  of  errors  ;  that,  in  fine,  the 
only  supreme  and  infallible  authority  was  the  in- 
spired volume. 

In  this  manner  the  two  cardinal  principles  of  the 
Reformation  came  to  be  developed,  the  sinner's  justi- 
fication by  faith  alone,  and  the  Word  of  God  as  the 
sole  authority  for  faith  and  life.  These  two  funda- 
mental truths,  the  condition  of  salvation  and  the  war- 
rant for  it,  are  the  poles  on  which  the  whole  move- 
ment turned  and  by  which  all  its  essential  features 
were  determined.  They  formed  its  heart  and  its 
panoply. 

The  Reformation,  let  it  ever  be  borne  in  mind,  was 
an  intensely  spiritual  work.  It  was  in  the  best  and 
fullest  sense  of  the  term,  a  revival.  A  cry  was  going 
up  all  over  Christendom,  what  must  I  do  to  be  saved? 
With  what   mockery  and  paraphernalia    Rome   made 


62  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

answer  to  this  cry,  and  how  unavailing  it  was,  we  have 
already  seen.  We  have  seen,  too,  the  answer  which 
came  to  Luther  out  of  the  Scriptures,  and  how  effi- 
cacious it  proved.  Having  the  warrant  from  God's 
Word  that  the  just  shall  live  by  faith,  and  finding  that 
the  ordinances  and  institutions  of  the  hierarchy  were 
at  war  with  this  truth,  he  rested  upon  the  authority  of 
the  Scriptures  and  made  a  stand  for  their  supremacy, 
over  against  the  decrees,  the  dogmas  and  tradi- 
tions of  the  Church. 

These  two  principles,  called  in  theology  the  material 
and  the  formal  principles  of  the  Reformation  logically, 
naturally  and  inevitably  go  together.  Had  not  God's 
holy  Word  been  overlaid  and  buried  under  number- 
less strata  "of  human  interpretation,  ecclesiastical 
authority  and  conciliar  dogmas,  the  simple  way  of 
life  by  faith  in  Christ  could  never  have  been  obscured 
and  well-nigh  closed.  It  has  been  said  with  striking 
force,  "the  deepest  curse  under  which  the  Church 
was  groaning,  was  the  practical  dethronement  of 
God's  Word."  Now  it  comes  once  more  to  its  proper 
honor  and  position.  All  appeals  are  taken  to  it,  and 
when  Luther,  in  that  immortal  scene  at  Worms,  delib- 
erately, at  the  risk  of  his  life,  declares  "  unless  I  am 
convinced  out  of  the  Holy  Scriptuies,  or  by  clear  and 
distinct  arguments,  I  may  not  and  cannot  retract; 
here  I  stand,  God  help  me,"  he  laid  the  corner-stone 
of  Protestantism  and  defied  the  assembled  might  of 
Hierarchy  and  Empire  to  overturn  it.  "That  was 
the  appeal  of  the  Church  to  her  divine  charter  and 
charter  rights,  against  a  falsifying  hierarchy  which 
was  not    the   Church."     The  Word   thus   restored   to 


The  Reformation.  63 

supremacy,  and  all  dogmas,  traditions  and  claims 
tested  by  its  teachings,  there  was  involved  in  it  inevi- 
tably the  right  and  assertion  for  every  man,  especially 
for  every  believer,  to  study  and  to  interpret  the  Script- 
ures for  himself.  Salvation  is  an  individual  matter, 
the  work  of  a  personal  faith  resting  upon  the  grace 
and  promises  of  God.  The  sinner  having  direct 
access  to  his  Savior  on  the  ground  of  the  divine 
Word,  no  power  on  earth  can  deprive  him  of  his  title 
or  wrest  from  him  that  which  is  to  him  individually, 
as  well  as  to  the  Church,  the  embodiment  of  supreme 
authority,  the  infallible  chart  to  govern  his  belief  and 
his  conduct.  With  the  assertion  of  these  principles 
the  Reformation  achieved  its  triumph. 

The  crisis  arrived  when  Tetzel  opened  at  J'ter- 
bok  his  abominable  market  for  the  sale  of  Indulgences. 
He  was  not  allowed  to  carry  on  his  trade  in  Witten- 
berg, because  the  Elector  Frederick  was  unwilling  to 
have  his  country  drained  of  money.  At  Jiiterbok, 
however,  which  was  beyond  his  jurisdiction,  the  sale 
of  forgiveness  could  proceed  without  hindrance,  and 
thousands  of  the  deluded  people  flocked  thither  to 
invest  their  scanty  earnings.  A  new  impetus  had  just 
been  given  to  the  traffic  in  Indulgences  by  the  erec- 
tion of  St.  Peter's  Church  at  Rome.  Vast  sums  were 
required  for  the  magnificent  edifice,  and  a  luxurious 
and  splendor-loving  Pope,  Leo  X,  whose  very  faith 
in  Christianity  has  been  questioned,  and  the  morals 
of  whose  court  was  one  of  the  numerous  scandals  of 
the  period,  had  no  scruple,  in  raising  funds,  to  resort 
to  this  foul,  soul-destroying  business.  "  Meanwhile, 
the   popes  were  not  ashamed  to  appropriate  freely  to 


64  The  Ltit hcrans  in  America. 

their  own  needs  and  to  other  objects,  such  as  the  war 
with  Turkey,  that  Indulgence  money,  which  was  nom- 
inally for  the  Church."  It  is,  perhaps,  of  little  mo- 
ment in  what  way,  or  for  what  ends,  a  fund  thus  ac- 
quired is  expended. 

For  the  farming  of  this  revenue  in  Germany  a  suit- 
able instrument  was  found  in  Albert,  Archbishop  of 
Mayence  and  of  Magdeburg — Luther's  own  bishop — 
a  prince  of  the  Church,  who,  although  drawing  the 
lucrative  proceeds  of  two  Archdioceses,  had,  by  his 
fondness  for  architectural  splendor,  his  extravagant 
court,  and  especially  the  heavy  payment  he  had 
been  required  to  make  for  his  appointment,  be- 
come very  deeply  involved  in  debt.  So  a  bargain 
was  struck  between  him  and  the  Holy  Father  by  which 
he  was  to  retain  half  of  the  profits  arising  from  this 
nefarious  traffic.  And  it  is  oriven  as  a  sober  historical 
fact,  that  behind  the  preacher  of  Indulgences,  who  an- 
nounced God's  mercy  to  all  who  handed  over  the  price 
of  sins,  stood  the  agents  of  the  Archbishop's  creditors 
collecting  their  principal's  share  of  the  proceeds. 

Contemporary  historians  describe  "the  lofty  and 
well-ordered  pomp  with  which  such  a  commissioner 
entered  on  the  performance  of  his  exalted  duties. 
Priests,  monks,  and  magistrates,  schoolmasters  and 
scholars,  men,  women  and  children,  went  forth  in  pro- 
cession to  meet  him,  with  songs  and  ringing  of  bells, 
with  flags  and  torches.  They  entered  the  Church  to- 
gether amidst  the  pealing  of  the  organ.  In  the  mid- 
dle of  the  Church,  before  the  altar,  was  erected  a 
large,  red  cross,  hung  with  a  silken  banner  which  bore 
the  papal  arms.     Before  the  cross  was  placed  a  large 


MEMORIAL   LUTHERAN  CHURCH,  WASHINGTON,    D.    C. 


66  The  Lutherans  771  America. 

iron  chest  to  receive  the  money  ;  specimens  of  these 
chests  are  still  shown  in  many  places.  Daily,  by  ser- 
mons, hymns,  processions  round  the  cross,  and  other 
means  of  attraction,  the  people  were  invited  and 
urged  to  embrace  this  incomparable  offer  of  salva- 
tion." The  time  for  reform,  one  would  think,  had 
certainly  come. 

To  the  atrocious  and  ruinous  character  of  this  sale 
of  forgiveness  Luther's  eyes  became  fully  opened  in 
the  confessional,  where  he  found  conscience-stricken 
souls  appealing  to  these  Indulgences  through  which 
they  purchased  salvation.  He  had  for  some  time 
previous  warned  his  congregation  against  putting 
trust  in  them  and  had  openly  avowed  his  hostility 
to  the  system  as  it  was  being  worked.  He  was,  in 
fact,  "burning  to  protest  against  the  scandal,"  although 
he  confessed  himself  not  yet  in  the  clear  about  all  of 
its  features.  He  had  written  to  some  bishops,  receiv- 
ing various  replies,  but  finding  no  one  prepared  to  take 
any  steps  in  the  matter.  "Every  one,"  said  he,  "com- 
plained of  the  Indulgences,  but  nobody  was  willing  to 
bell  the  cat." 

At  last  further  silence  became  impossible.  The  ruin 
of  souls,  revealed  to  him  as  he  was  hearing  confession, 
compelled  him  to  rise  in  opposition.  Accordingly, 
on  the  eve  of  All-Saints'  Day,  October  31,  15 17,  he 
posted  on  the  doors  of  the  Castle  Church,  at  Witten- 
berg, ninety-five  Latin  theses  or  propositions  on  this 
subject,  hoping  thereby  to  call  the  attention  of  eccle- 
siastics and  theologians  to  the  great  evil,  and  by  sta- 
ting his  own  doubts  and  opinions  to  challenge  dispu- 
tation and  thus  bring  about  public  discussion.     Such 


The  Reformation.  67 

a  procedure  was  not  uncommon  at  that  day,  and  at 
the  Universities,  and  among  theologians,  it  was  the 
practice  to  have  such  public  disputations  as  a  means 
not  only  of  exercising  learned  thought,  but  of  elucida- 
ting truth. 

At  ordinary  times,  therefore,  the  bold  act  of  the 
Reformer  in  nailing  up  those  theses  would  not  have 
provoked  any  special  notice  ,or  given  rise  to  any  com- 
motion, although  by  announcing  the  doctrine  of  free 
and  gratuitous  remission  of  sins  he  heralded  the  Ref- 
ormation. But,  as  we  have  observed,  these  were  not 
ordinary  times.  The  state  of  mind,  all  over  Europe, 
was  such  that  a  very  trifling  incident  became  the  note 
of  a  bugle,  at  the  sound  of  which  all  Christendom 
sprang  into  action.  Luther's  hammer  emitted  a  few 
sparks.  The  inflammable  material,  which  lay  in  masses 
everywhere,  caught  fire  and,  as  with  the  rapidity  of 
lightning,  a  conflagration  spread  from  Wittenberg 
to  every  part  of  the  Christian  world.  "In  a  fort- 
night," says  a  contemporary,  "these  theses  were  in 
every  part  of  Germany,  and  in  four  weeks  they  had 
traversed  nearly  the  whole  of  Christendom,  as  if  the 
very  angels  had  been  their  messengers,  and  had 
placed  them  before  the  eyes  of  all  men."  "Every  one 
read  them,  meditated  and  commented  on  them." 

Little  had  the  humble  monk  dreamed  of  what  he 
was  doing.  He  had  hoped  to  bring  about  a  simple 
public  disputation  in  which  he  proposed  humbly,  but 
with  all  his  might,  to  defend  the  fundamental  doctrine 
of  the  gospel,  the  freeness  of  salvation  through  Christ, 
and  lo  !  he  has  awakened  a  discussion  which  is  shak- 
ing the  Church  to  its  center.     All  Europe  is  involved 


68  The  LutJicrans  in  America. 

in  the  tremendous  commotion,  and  without  ever 
having  intended  it,  shrinking  in  his  soul  from  the  very 
thought  of  it,  Luther  suddenly  finds  himself  at  the 
head  of  a  colossal  movement  against  the  central  au- 
thority  of  the  Church,  a  movement  which  no  power 
on  earth  could  now  stay  and  which,  by  the  irresistible 
loo-ic  of  events,  he  was  charged  under  God  to  direct 
and  control. 

The  papacy  was  roused  by  the  terrific  noise.  This 
monk  must  be  silenced.  He  is  summoned  to  recant 
his  teachings  in  the  theses  and  in  his  publications,  and 
as  this  was  not  in  the  line  of  his  convictions  the  ban 
of  excommunication  is  hurled  against  him.  When  no 
one  in  authority  dares  to  pay  any  heed  to  this,  and 
as  excommunication  loses  its  terror  if  the  subject  of 
it  keeps  at  large  prosecuting  the  work  for  which  he 
was  anathematized,  the  congress  of  the  Empire  is 
convoked  in  order  to  dispose  of  this  Wittenberg  monk 
who  set  the  world  on  fire.  At  the  fiat  of  the  Pope, 
the  lord  of  the  kingdoms  of  this  world,  the  Emperor 
is  constrained  to  make  effective  the  bull  of  excommu- 
nication. He  assembles,  in  1 52 1,  the  great  Diet,  at 
that  time  the  mightiest  political  body  in  the  world, 
and  the  solitary  monk  is  required  to  appear  in  per- 
son before  it.  He  makes  his  defense  before  the 
princes  and  prelates.  He  solemnly  plants  himself  on 
the  Word  and  refuses  point  blank  to  surrender  his 
convictions  and  his  conscience.  In  God's  name  he 
bids  defiance  to  priests  and  potentates  and  powers, 
and  by  his  firm  stand  marks  an  epoch  in  the  progress 
of  human  freedom.  Ready  to  live  or  die  he  is  placed 
by  friends    under    the   shelter  of  a  castle,  and   from 


The  Reformation.  69 

thence  he  gives  the  word  of  life  to  the  German  peo- 
in  their  own  tongue. 

A  large  part  of  the  nation  have  already  embraced, 
the  evangelical  faith.  Great  princes  of  the  Empire 
refuse  to  join  in  the  condemnation  of  a  man  who  has 
the  courage  to  tell  the  naked  truth  about  Rome,  and 
who  once  more  proclaims  the  Gospel  of  a  salvation 
purchased  once  for  all  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb- 
Electoral  Saxony  joins  the  Reformation.  So  does 
Brandenburg,  Hesse,  Pomerania,  Mecklenburg,  Lune- 
Ijurg,  Friesland,  and  nearly  all  the  free  cities  which 
liad  long  been  impatient  of  Episcopal  rule:  Hamburg, 
L"beck,  Bremen,  Magdeburg,  Frankfort,  Gottingen, 
and  Nurenberg.  As  early  as  the  Diet  of  Spires,  in 
1526,  the  countries  holding  the  evangelical  faith  had 
become  so  numerous  and  so  strong  as  to  extort  from 
the  national  congress  the  right,  for  the  time  being,  to 
maintain  the  new  order,  to  have  the  unrestricted 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  and  the  organization  of  the 
Churches  in  independence  of  the  hierarchy,  a  right 
which  they  never  again  surrendered,  though  repeat- 
edly threatened  with  violent  measures  if  all  was  not 
brought  back  under  the  old  papal  regime.  In  a  few 
more  years  Schleswig  and  Holstein  adopted  the  evan- 
gelical faith,  as  did  also  Silesia,  Prussia,  Anhalt,  Ducal 
Saxony,  Brunswick  and  the  Palatinate,  almost  the 
whole  of  northern  Germany  and  a  large  part  of  South 
Germany,  inclusive  of  nearly  all  the  powerful  free 
cities.  Without  doubt  a  majority  of  the  people  in 
countries  which  remained  Roman  Catholic,  were  in 
sympathy  with  the  Reformation  and  hungering  for 
the  Gospel  and  its  life  of  freedom,  but  the  intolerance 


■o 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


of  Austria  and  Bavaria,  and  the  bloody  engine  of 
the  Inquisition  succeeded  in  stifling  the  movement  in 
those  countries. 

This  astounding-  revolution  was  effected  within  the 
short  period  of  ten  years,  marking  a  rapidity  and  a 
radical  thoroughness  such  as  the  world  had  never 
before  witnessed.  And  the  only  weapon  employed 
was  the  torch  of  the  Gospel,  which  brought  men 
to  realize   the   surrounding  darkness   and  revealed  to 


ST.  MARK'S  ENGLISH  LUTHERAN  CHURCH,  ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 


them  the  way  of  life.  About  the  same  time  the  doc- 
trines proclaimed  by  Luther  achieved  a  like  triumph 
in  Denmark,  Sweden  and  Norway,  while  the  reforma- 
tion wave  rolled  on  into  France  and  Holland  and 
England,  and  "to  the  utmost  boundaries  of  Europe." 
Everywhere  it  was  welcomed  as  the  deliverance  for 
which  men  had  yearned  through  centuries  of  bondage. 
From  a  popular  historian  of  the  Reformation, 
D'Aubigne,  we  transfer  the  following  graphic  picture 
of  the  amazing  rapidity  of  its  course:  "  Luther's  writ- 


The  Reformation.  ji 

ings  were  read  in  the  cities,  towns  and  even  villages; 
at  night  by  the  fireside  the  school-master  would  often 
read  them  aloud  to  an  attentive  audience.  Some  of 
the  hearers  were  affected  by  their  perusal ;  they  would 
take  up  the  Bible  to  clear  away  their  doubts,  and 
were  struck  with  surprise  at  the  astonishing  contrast 
between  the  Christianity  of  the  Bible  and  their  own. 
After  oscillating  between  Rome  and  Scripture,  they 
soon  took  refuge  with  that  living  word  which  shed  so 
new  and  sweet  a  radiance  on  their  hearts.  While 
they  were  in  this  state,  some  evangelical  preacher, 
probably  a  priest,  or  a  monk,  would  arrive.  He 
spoke  eloquently  and  with  conviction  ;  he  announced 
that  Christ  had  made  full  atonement  for  the  sins  of 
of  his  people  ;  he  demonstrated  by  Holy  Scripture  the 
vanity  of  works  and  human  penances.  A  terrible 
opposition  would  then  break  out;  the  clergy  and 
sometimes  the  magistrates,  would  strain  every  nerve 
to  bring  back  the  souls  they  were  about  to  lose.  But 
there  was  in  the  new  preaching  a  harmony  with 
Scripture  and  a  hidden  force  that  won  all  hearts,  and 
subdued  even  the  most  rebellious.  At  the  peril  of 
their  goods,  and  of  their  life,  if  need  be,  they  ranged 
themselves  on  the  side  of  the  Gospel,  and  forsook 
the  lifeless  and  fanatical  orators  of  the  papacy. 
Sometimes  the  people,  incensed  at  being  so  long  mis- 
led, compelled  them  to  retire;  more  frequently  the 
priests,  deserted  by  their  flocks,  without  tithes  or  of- 
ferings, departed  voluntarily  and  in  sadness  to  seek 
a  livelihood  elsewhere.  And  while  the  support- 
ers of  the  ancient  hierarchy  returned  from  these 
places  sorrowful  and  dejected,  and  sometimes  bidding 


J 2  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

farewell  to  their  old  flocks  in  the  lanoruaofe  of  anathe- 
ma  the  people,  transported  with  joy  by  peace  and 
liberty,  surrounded  the  new  preachers  with  their  ap- 
plause, and  thirsting  for  the  word  of  God,  carried 
them  in  triumph  into  the  Church  and  into  the  pulpit. 
"A  word  of  power,  proceeding  from  God,  was  at 
that  time  regenerating  society.  The  people  or  their 
leaders  would  frequently  invite  some  man,  celebrated 
for  his  faith,  to  come  and  enlighten  them;  and  in- 
stantly for  love  of  the  Gospel  he  abandoned  his 
interests  and  his  family,  his  country  and  friends.  Per- 
secution often  compelled  the  partisans  of  the  Ref- 
ormation to  leave  their  homes:  they  reached  some 
spot  where  it  was  as  yet  unknown  ;  here  they  would 
enter  a  house  that  offered  an  asylum  to  poor  travel- 
ers ;  there  they  would  speak  of  the  Gospel,  read  a 
chapter  to  the  attentive  hearers,  and  perhaps  obtain 
permission  to  preach  publicly  in  the  Church 
If  they  could  not  preach  in  the  Church,  they  found 
some  other  spot.      Every  place  became  a  temple." 


f»MILII»    MEI.ANCTHOX. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  EVANGELICAL  LUTHERAN  CHURCH. 

GOD'S  providence  and  the  preaching  of  the  pure 
gospel  of  salvation  brought  into  being  the  Evan- 
gelical Lutheran  Church.  It  is  the  unanimous 
testimony  of  Protestant  historians  that  Luther  shrunk 
with  holy  horror  from  the  idea  of  a  separation  from 
the  Church  presided  over  by  the  Roman  See.  He 
had  a  most  profound  reverence  for  the  dogmas  and 
institutions  which  had  prevailed  through  ages.  His 
attacks  were  leveled  at  first  only  against  a  few  gross 
abuses,  and  he  was  so  innocent  as  to  believe  that  the 
Pope  himself  and  all  pious  theologians  would  join 
in  their  condemnation,  when  they  became  fully  in- 
formed of  these  evils.  He  could  not  have  believed 
that  they  had  become  so  corrupted  by  error  and  so 
poisoned  by  its  virus,  that  they  would  resist  every 
attempt  at  the  purification  of  the  house  of  God.  He 
had  no  idea  that  the  chief  shepherds  of  the  Church 
could  brand,  outlaw  and  burn  at  the  stake  men  who 
pointed  sinners  to  "the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh 
away  the  sin  of  the  world."  He  had  not  anticipated 
that  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Papacy  stood 
in  irreconcilable   conflict  with    each   other.       Havino- 

O 

planted  himself  on  the  eternal  rock  of  truth,  and  con- 
fident of  the  material  on  which  he  stood,  he  now 
could  not  do  otherwise  than  maintain  his  position.and 
if  Rome  declared  that  treason,  and  proposed  to  make 

73 


74  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

war  upon  him,  Rome  must  take  the  consequences. 
The  truth  was  dearer  to  him  than  all  the  sacred  tra- 
ditions he  had  so  profoundly  venerated,  and  the  truth, 
he  well  knew,  was  the  only  invincible  power  upon 
earth.  The  Church  rests  upon  God's  Word  as  her 
foundation  stone.  She  stands  or  falls  with  the  doc- 
trines of  grace  and  so  Luther,  secure  of  his  position, 
went  on  purging  and  cleansing  the  sanctuary  as  God 
led  him,  until  a  glorious  anti-papal,  Evangelical 
Church  arose  over  Europe. 

God  did  lead  him,  and  God  did  protect  him.  We 
have  seen  how  wonderfully  the  soil  was  made  ready 
for  the  seed  of  the  Word,  how  events  had  conspired 
to  bring  on  the  crisis,  how  the  colossus  of  Rome  was 
tottering  from  its  weight,  how  the  reverence  for  the 
Papacy  had  been  shattered  and  the  minds  of  men  dis- 
enchanted, how  a  multitude  of  new  ideas  had  spread 
over  every  land,  how  society  in  every  grade  was  pul- 
sating with  a  new  life,  how  the  printing  press  had 
scattered  its  pages  of  light  into  the  most  distant 
places,  and  the  discovery  of  new  worlds  had  extended 
the  horizon  of  human  thought.  Everything  por- 
tended a  great  revolution.  All  men  had  a  presenti- 
ment of  an  impending  crisis.  Some,  judging  from  the 
fearful  decay  in  the  Church,  foretold  the  near  ap- 
proach of  Anti-christ,  while  others  cherished  an  ar- 
dent expectation  of  a  Reformation  close  at  hand.  If 
God  rules  in  the  affairs  of  men,  there  was  certainly 
here,  in  this  universal  concurrence,  a  revelation  of  his 
mighty  providence. 

And  no  less  conspicuous  is  the  hand  of  God  in  the 
protection  of  his  servant  through  all  the   perils  and 


The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church.  75 

struggles  which  he  encountered,  and  in  the  triumphant 
issue  which  crowned  his  work.  From  the  moment  he 
uttered  truths  which  were  at  variance  with  the  exist- 
ing order  in  the  Church,  he  jeopardized  his  life,  and 
it  is  one  of  the  marvels  of  history  that,  with  the  ban 
of  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities  branded 
upon  him,  the  Reformer  escaped  unharmed  from  the 
fiery  furnace.  How  did  it  come  about  that  a  power- 
ful, earthly  prince,  Frederick  the  Wise,  who  never  per- 
sonally met  him,  and  who,  for  a  long  time,  avowed  no 
sympathy  with  his  views,  saw  fit  to  cast  the  shield  of 
protection  over  his  person?  How  was  it  that  the  Em- 
peror, who  was  lord  of  two  worlds  and  in  full  alliance 
with  the  papacy  in  every  attempt  at  smiting  Luther 
and  crushing  his  work,  found  himself  paralyzed  in  the 
critical  juncture  and  compelled  to  let  the  cause  ad- 
vance until  it  defied  repression?  How  was  it  that 
when  Luther  walked  right  into  the  jaws  of  death  at 
Worms,  and  when  scarcely  a  mortal  expected  to  see 
him  come  out  of  the  city  alive,  he  passed  out  as  he 
entered,  the  hero  of  the  age?  The  imperial  safe- 
conduct,  under  which  he  went  and  came,  was  the  fac- 
simile of  the  one  granted  to  Huss  to  assure  his  safe 
return  from  Constance,  but  Huss  was  burnt  by  the 
Council  as  a  heretic,  and  so  was  Jerome,  his  coadjutor, 
while  Luther,  who  was  spreading  doctrines  far  more 
dangerous  to  the  papacy,  went  back  to  Wartburg 
and  from  there  brandished  a  sword  which  pierced  the 
vitals  of  his  enemies.  Savonarola  taught  in  Flor- 
ence the  way  of  salvation,  as  revealed  in  the  Script- 
ures, and  instituted  a  moral  and  religious  Reforma- 
tion, but    he  died    at    the    stake    as  a  heretic    and  a 


7  6  The  Ltttherans  in  America. 

seducer  of  the  people.  Wycliffe  maintained  that  the 
only  source  and  rule  of  faith  were  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
and  sought  to  inaugurate  a  thorough  reform  of 
the  Church,  but,  although  the  civil  power  protected 
his  person  from  molestation,  he  was  stripped  of  his 
offices,  debarred  from  public  teaching  and  kept  in 
retirement,  while  his  principal  friends  were  either 
-driven  out  of  the  country  or  forced  to  recant. 

The  penalty  for  the  crime  of  murder  in  civilized 
states  is  death  by  hanging.  The  penalty  for  attempt- 
ing the  reform  of  the  Church  and  for  preaching  a 
pure  Gospel  was,  at  that  period,  death  at  the  stake, 
and  nothing  else  could  have  been  anticipated  for 
Luther  who  boldly  bearded  the  lion  in  his  den.  Yet 
from  the  daring  step  of  posting  his  ninety-five 
theses,  he  kept  on  teaching,  preaching,  writing,  dis- 
puting, and  publishing,  openly,  publicly,  fearlessly,  in 
the  university,  in  churches,  in  the  presence  of  the 
great  and  the  mighty,  in  the  palaces  of  kings,  be- 
fore august  assemblies,  his  enemies  having  innumera- 
ble opportunities  to  poison  him,  to  kidnap,  slay  or 
burn  him,  and  never  was  molested,  never  suffered  an 
injury  to  a  single  hair  of  his  head,  lived  triumphantly 
till  his  work  was  finished  and  finally  passed  away  as 
the  oracle  of  his  age,  dying  peacefully  in  the  circle 
of  his  friends,  with  loud  thankso-ivincr  to  God. 

As  the  leader,  so  the  cause  itself  received  super- 
human protection.  It  happens  sometimes  that  the 
workman  falls,  but  his  work  is  perpetuated  ;  some- 
times, as  in  the  case  of  Wycliffe,  the  person  of  the 
leader  is  shielded  while  the  issue  for  which  he  con- 
tended is  crushed.     But  here  the  leader  and  the  revo- 


The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church.  yy 

lution,  inseparably  united,  share  alike  the  guardian- 
ship of  heaven.  That  movement  for  a  purified 
Church  and  a  revived  gospel,  which  might  at  its  bold 
inception  have  been  strangled  by  a  single  hand  of 
civil  or  ecclesiastical  power,  was  allowed  to  move  on 
unimpeded  until,  in  its  advance,  it  had  gathered  such 
momentum  as  to  sweep  before  it  every  barrier,  and 
to  overcome  all  opposition.  The  arm  of  the  Most 
High  was  stretched  out  for  its  defense,  and  moved 
not  only  a  Frederick  and  his  successors  in  Saxony 
to  shelter  and  shield  the  precious  cause,  but  also  a 
king  of  France  and  a  king  of  England,  notwithstand- 
ing their  religious  adhesion  to  Rome,  to  offer  armed 
resistance  to  the  combinations  formed  for  the  de- 
struction of  the  Reformation.  Even  Charles  V.with 
all  his  hatred  of  Luther  and  Lutheranism,  and  his  re- 
peated resolve  to  extinguish  both,  the  mighty  poten- 
tate who  to  the  end  of  his  life  regretted  that  he  had 
allowed  Luther's  escape,  found  himself,  just  at  the 
moment  when  he  had  expected  to  strike  the  fatal 
blow,  compelled  by  political  exigencies  to  recall  vio- 
lent measures,  to  make  a  sudden  change  of  front,  and 
to  allow  the  Reformers  to  prosecute  their  work  in 
peace.  The  very  Turk,  the  mortal  foe  of  Christen- 
dom, whose  baleful  shadow  cast  itself  from  time  to 
time  into  the  heart  of  Germany,  became  more  than 
once  an  instrument  of  Providence  to  shield  the  work 
of  purifying  his  Church. 

In  the  spring  of  1532,  for  instance,  Soliman  was  ad- 
vancing towards  the  gates  of  Vienna  with  an  army  of 
three  hundred  thousand  men.  An  Embassy  was  sent 
to  offer  him  the  most  humiliating  terms  of  peace,  so 


78  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

that  the  Emperor's  hands  might  be  free  to  crush  the 
Lutherans.  He  at  once  inquired,  "Has  the  Emperor 
made  peace  with  Martin  Luther?"  and  on  learn- 
ing that  no  such  peace  had  yet  been  made,  he 
spurned  every  offer,  and  spread  such  consternation 
in  Germany  that  all  the  resources  of  the  Empire  had 
to  be  combined  against  the  common  foe. 

The  Lutheran  Reformation  thus  achieved  success, 
and  resulted  in  a  pure  Church,  while  all  previous 
efforts  were  stamped  with  disastrous  and  melan- 
choly failure.  Gerson,  D'Ailly,  and  other  French  re- 
formers, called  together  Council  after  Council,  and 
made  the  most  sincere  and  strenuous  efforts  to  purify 
the  Church  in  head  and  members,  but  all  their  at- 
tempts proved  wholly  abortive.  Papal  tyranny, 
hierarchical  assumptions,  clerical  immorality  and  all 
other  scandals  and  wrongs  remained  as  dominant 
and  powerful  as  before.  Germany  had  its  reformers 
previous  to  the  Reformation,  but  not  a  trace  of  their 
work  survived  to  give  encouragement  or  direction  to 
Luther.  In  the  Low  Countries,  nearly  a  century  be- 
fore Luther  noble  men  had  denied  the  power  of  the 
Pope  and  held  out  the  torch  of  Evangelical  light,  but 
all  had  again  vanished  in  the  surrounding  darkness. 
Of  Wycliffe's  movement  in  England  it  is  doubtful 
whether  any  germs  remained  to  prove  seed-corn  for 
the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Huss  and 
Jerome  started  a  reformation  in  Bohemia  which,  in 
its  advocacy  of  justification  by  faith  and  the  su- 
premacy of  the  Scriptures  has  been  very  naturally 
regarded  as  the  precursor  of  the  Lutheran  Reforma- 
tion, but  soon    after  their  leaders  had  attested  their 


The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church. 


79 


faith  at  the  stake  their  followers  disintegrated  into 
factions,  became  a  prey  to  fanaticism,  were  dispersed 
by  the  civil  authorities  and  afterwards  disappeared 
from  history. 

With  all  these  examples  of  direful  and  distressing 
failure  staring  him  in  the  face,  Luther  resolutely  and 
without  a  conscious  fear  advanced  to  the  attack  of 
the  mightiest  bulwarks  of  Rome,  effected  the  libera- 


LUTHERAN  HOSPITAL,  MILWAUKEE,  WIS. 

tion  of  the  nations  from  its  thraldom  and  proceeded 
to  build  up  a  church  without  pope,  bishop  or  priest, 
tearing  down  and  destroying  every  structure  which 
man  had  erected  within  the  temple  of  the  Most  High. 
He  succeeds.  His  work  stands.  It  dates  a  new 
epoch  not  only  in  the  Church  but  in  the  world.  It 
marks  the  birth  of  modern  civilization.  The  Church 
reformed  abides.  It  survives  the  discomfiture  of  its 
foes,  the  storms  of  succeeding  social  commotions,  the 
wrecks  of  time. 


80  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  wont  to  remark  during  the 
darkest  periods  of  the  civil  war,  that  it  had  always 
been  his  object  to  find  out  on  which  side  God  is  and 
then  to  embrace  that  side,  for  that  was  the  side 
that  would  always  win  in  the  end.  So  in  the 
midst  of  the  tumult  created  in  Jerusalem  by  the 
rapid  spread  of  the  gospel,  there  stood  up  a  notable 
philosopher  of  the  Pharisees  and  put  in  an  eloquent 
defense  for  the  Apostles,  closing  with  the  earnest 
charge  to  "refrain  from  these  men  and  let  them 
alone,  for  if  this  council  or  this  work  be  of  man  it 
will  come  to  naught.  But  if  it  be  of  God,  ye  cannot 
overthrow  it;  lest  haply  ye  be  found  even  to  fight 
against  God." 

That  the  Reformation  was  of  God  can  be  shown  as 
conclusively  as  that  the  material  universe  is  the  work- 
manship of  his  hand.  In  nothing,  however,  is  divine 
interposition  so  conspicuous  as  in  the  protection 
which  marked  its  progress  and  the  abiding  success 
by  which  it  was  crowned.  "When  He  giveth  quiet- 
ness, who  then  can  make  trouble?"  The  battle-hymn 
of  the  Reformation  was  the  xlvi.  Psalm,  and  it  was 
not  an  expression  of  the  lips  alone  but  an  immovable 
conviction  among-  its  adherents  that  "God  was  in  the 
midst  of  her;  she  shall  not  be  moved:  God  shall 
help  her  and  that  right  early.  The  Lord  of  hosts  is. 
with  us,  the  God  of  Jacob  is  our  refuge." 

But  why  were  success  and  victory  given  to  Luther,, 
and  withheld  from  other  great  and  true  men  who  had 
conceived  a  similar  undertaking  at  other  times  and  in 
other  lands?  The  real  answer  to  this  inquiry  is  not 
the  extraordinary  personality  of  the  Reformer,  trans- 


The  Evangelical  Lutheran  CJhurck.  Hr 

cendent  and  unapproachable  as  that  is  acknowledged 
to  have  been,  "  a  sort  of  inspired  apostle  and  prophet,'' 
who  came  to  the  stage  of  history  for  such  a  time  as 
this.  Luther  was  human  and  had  his  full  share  of  the 
limitations  and  passions  and  weaknesses  of  his  kind. 
He  was  but  an  instrument.  Nor  is  it  sufficient  to  say 
that  the  times  were  ripe,  that  the  hour  had  come,  for 
this,  after  all,  does  not  indicate  what  was  the  decisive 
instrumentality  which  brought  about  the  result. 

Compare  the  revolution  which  triumphed  under  the 
Lutheran  Reformers  with  the  endeavors  made  so 
often  in  the  same  line  by  others,  and  the  unique- 
ness of  their  reform  and  the  secret  of  its  success 
become  manifest.  The  Paris  Reformers,  with  all 
their  zeal  and  energy,  directed  their  attacks  against 
the  open  and  glaring  scandals  and  the  accursed  op- 
pressions which  were  festering  in  the  Church,  while 
its  falsified  faith  they  had  no  idea  of  disturbing,  and 
the  doctrine  of  gratuitous  justification  they  did  not 
so  much  as  understand.  Savanorola  was  not  content 
to  purge  the  Church  and  its  faith,  but  must  also 
reconstruct  the  government  of  his  country.  Wyc- 
liffe  formulated  a  theological  system  and  developed 
philosophical  speculations  of  interest  to  thinkers,  but 
he  made  no  impression  on  the  people,  and  by  denying 
the  objective  validity  of  the  ordinances,  he  practically 
rendered  it  impossible  to  establish  a  visible  Church 
or  community.  Huss,  though  giving  greater  empha- 
sis than  Wycliffe  to  justification  by  faith,  yet  fell 
into  his  error  of  spiritualism,  which  made  the  Church 
the  totality  of  the  predestinate  and  empowered  only 
the  elect  to  administer  the  sacraments,  thus  vitiating 


82  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

the  nature,  the  import  and  the  office  of  the  objective 
Church. 

From  all  these  errors  the  Reformation  under 
Luther  was  providentially  preserved.  Taking  as  his 
guide  implicitly  the  divine  Word  and  sternly  exclud- 
ing from  the  Church  one  by  one  the  false  ingredients 
which  could  not  endure  its  searching  test,  this  great 
mind  was  marvelously  held  back  from  those  extremes 
into  which  reformers  and  iconoclasts  almost  inevita- 
bly plunge.  He,  too,  was  encompassed  by  these  very 
temptations.  The  same  insidious  tendencies,  which 
had  wrecked  previous  efforts,  were  present  and  threat- 
ened to  weaken,  to  divert  and  to  vitiate  the  reform  ; 
but  Luther,  like  a  rock  in  the  sea,  stood  firm  against 
wind  and  tide  from  every  quarter,  and  with  the 
Romanists  on  the  rip-lit  and  the  fanatics  and  anarch- 
ists  on  the  left  he  upheld  the  simple  truth  of  God 
without  wavering  and  without  compromise. 

His  own  inclinations  often  prompted  him  to  a  more 
radical  course  as,  for  instance,  on  the  Lord's  Supper, 
where  at  first  he  was  fain  to  deny  an  objective  pres- 
ence and  to  accept  the  symbolic  view,  but  he  had  so 
completely  subjected  himself  to  the  Scriptures  that 
neither  the  inclinations  of  his  heart  nor  the  argu- 
ments of  his  reason  could  be  allowed  to  sway  his  con- 
victions or  to  determine  his  conduct. 

By  his  profound  religious  experience  he  had  been 
made  to  realize  that  justification  by  faith  was  the 
central  doctrine,  and  giving  this  its  proper  position 
in  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  in  the  system  of  doc- 
trine, and  in  the  Confession  of  faith,  making  it  the 
doctrine  of  a  standing  or  a   falling  Church,  he  was 


The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church.  83 

able  to  steer  clear  of  the  dangerous  snags  and  shoals 
by  which  his  course  was  beset,  and  by  which  so  many 
others  had  been  shipwrecked.  He  not  only  had  an 
infallible  compass,  but  he  knew  the  polar  star  whose 
long  eclipse  had  led  to  many  serious  errors  in  the 
Church,  and  he  knew  also  its  exact  place  in  the  sys- 
tem, and  thus  the  ship  of  Christ  outrode  the  terrific 
storms  and  billows  which  it  encountered, 

"In  the  middle  of  the  Confession,  as  its  construct- 
ive center,"  says  Thomasius,  "is  placed  the  Article 
on  Justification :""  It  is  further  taught  that  we  can- 
not obtain  the  pardon  of  sins  and  righteousness 
before  God,  by  our  own  merits,  works,  or  reparation, 
.but  that  we  receive  forgiveness  of  sins  and  become 
righteous  before  God  for  Christ's  sake,  through  the 
faith  that  Christ  has  suffered  for  us,  and  that  for  his 
sake  sins  are  remitted  to  us,  riehteousness  and 
eternal  life  gratuitously  given.  For  this  faith  God 
will  impute  for  righteousness  before  Him,  as  Paul 
declares  in  Romans  iii  and  iv."  Here  is  the  secret  of 
the  power  and  the  success  of  the  Lutheran  Reforma- 
tion. This  was  its  battle-cry  and  this  truth,  the  heart 
of  the  gospel,  made  it  invincible.  Under  this  banner 
the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  came  into  distinct- 
ive being  and  Jesus  Christ  was  lifted  up  as  the 
Savior  of  sinners.  Men  were  everywhere  drawn  to 
this  uplifted  Savior,  and  those  so  drawn  were  justified 
from  their  sins,  were  quickened  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  were  united  in  a  living  communion  with  the  real 
and  divine  head  of  the  Church.  Thus  united  with 
him  and  possessed  of  his  Spirit  they  formed  an 
organic  part  of  the  body  of  Christ.     They  constituted 


84  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

a  Church  of  the  living  God,  a  part  of  that  great  com- 
munity of  saints  who,  in  all  lands  and  all  ages,  agree 
concerning  the  Gospel,  and  have  the  same  Christ,  the 
same  Holy  Ghost,  the  same  proclamation  of  grace  and 
the  same  sacraments.  Not  a  single  note  of  the  true 
Church  is  wanting,  not  a  single  element  or  part  of 
that  building  which,  not  made  by  hands  but  being 
fitly  framed  together  into  Christ,  "groweth  unto  a 
holy  temple  in  the  Lord."  And  such  was  the  power 
of  the  spiritual  life  pulsating  in  this  company  of  be- 
lievers, that  within  the  limits  of  a  single  generation  it 
so  extended  its  borders  as  to  embrace  nearly  all  the 
peoples  of  the  Germanic  race  and  the  entire  popula- 
tion of  Denmark,  Sweden  and  Norway. 

But  while  a  new  and  fresh  life  was  throbbing  with- 
in its  bosom,  it  was  not  in  any  sense  a  new  Church 
which  thus  spread  over  Europe.  Though  it  came  to 
bear  the  name  of  Luther  its  inception  or  genesis  does 
not  date  from  the  period  of  the  Reformer's  career. 
The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  is  the  Christian 
Church  regenerated,  renewed  and  reformed.  It  is  in 
all  essentials  "a  return  to  primitive  Christianity,  a 
restoration  of  gospel  teaching  to  its  ascendency  in 
the  house  of  the  Lord,  a  reassertion  of  the  principles 
which  marked  the  Church  in  the  days  of  her  apos- 
tolic purity,  when  she  had  the  Gospel  and  the 
Sacraments,  but  had  neither  pope  nor  priest  within 
her  domain.  The  Church  is  not  a  body  of  officials 
administering  elaborate  ceremonies  and  exercising 
outward  lordship  over  men's  souls;  it  is  the  com- 
munity of  believers  in  Christ,  among  whom  the  Gos- 
pel is    preached    in    its    purity    and    the    Sacraments 


The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church.  85 

are  administered  according  to  divine  appointment. 
These  and  not  the  former  are  accordingly  the  stamp 
of  a  church's  legitimacy.  And  these  treasures  of 
grace  were  committed,  not  to  an  order  of  ecclesiastics, 
but  to  the  whole  Church,  they  are  the  common  herit- 
age of  believers,  the  inalienable  right  of  the  body  of 
disciples. 

A  set  of  officials  may  gradually  usurp  the  govern- 
ment of  a  country,  claim  to  be  the  lords  of  a  nation 
and  possess  themselves  of  its  goods  and  its  rights. 
For  a  people  to  cast  off  such  a  usurpation,  to  assert 
their  inalienable  privileges,  to  resume  the  control  of 
their  property  and  their  government,  is  not  the  ruin 
of  a  country,  nor  indeed  the  creation  of  a  new  country, 
but  is  simply  freeing  the  land  from  its  tyrants  and 
from  the  pernicious  institutions  which  their  unholy 
and  oppressive  rule  had  imposed  upon  the  people. 
The  Lutherans  renounced  the  papacy,  they  cast  off 
its  fetters,  they  overturned  its  ruinous  ordinances  and 
with  their  hands  thus  freed  they  grasped  the  Bible, 
they  pronounced  the  historic  creed,  they  clasped  the 
ancient  faith,  they  held  to  the  ministry  of  the  Word 
and  Sacraments.  And  certainly  such  a  departure  from 
the  abominable  corruptions  which  had  been  wickedly 
brought  into  the  Church,  does  not  involve  a  depart- 
ure from  the  Church  itself.  It  is  a  return  to  the  true 
Church,  the  pure  Church.  It  is  a  new  birth  within 
the  old  Church,  which  depends  for  its  life  not  on  the 
Pope  nor  any  Episcopal  administration  or  manip- 
ulation, but  upon  Jesus  Christ,  the  risen  Savior,  and 
upon  the  Holy  Ghost,  "the  Lord  and  giver  of  life." 

What,  can    I   not  be  a  member  of  Christ's  Church 


86  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

without  belonging  to  the  Pope's  Church  ?  Is  the 
Latin  Church  the  Universal  Church?  Is  there  not 
also  a  Greek  Church  ?  Can  there  be  no  German 
Church,  no  English  Church?  Must  the  Bishop  of 
Rome  have  jurisdiction  over  all,  a  jurisdiction  co- 
extensive with  the  authority  of  Christ,  and  is 
Romanism  identical  with  the  one  holy  Catholic 
Church?  God  forbid !  The  Scriptures,  reason,  his- 
tory, heaven  and  earth  unite  in  denying  this  blasphe- 
mous assumption  and  with  one  voice  declare  that 
Christ  has  a  glorious  dominion  beyond  the  Roman 
barriers. 

Under  that  dominion  falls  the  Evangelical  Luth- 
eran Church.  She  recognizes  no  other.  "  For  one  is 
your  master,  even  Christ ;  and  all  ye  are  brethren." 
As  there  is  but  one  Master  in  the  Church,  so  there  is 
but  one  Priest,  a  great  High  Priest  that  is  passed  into 
heaven,  Jesus  the  Son  of  God,"  "who  through  the 
eternal  spirit  offered  himself  without  spot  to  God," 
and  by  this  "one  offering  hath  perfected  forever  them 
that  are  sanctified."  And  taking  his  people  into  liv- 
ing union  with  Himself  he  has  made  all  of  them 
"priests  of  God  and  of  Christ."  He  has  constituted 
them  a  universal  priesthood,  to  offer  thanksgiving 
and  intercession  each  in  behalf  of  the  other  and  in 
behalf  of  all.  And  in  the  exercise  of  that  authority 
with  which  the  Master  has  clothed  his  Church,  and  in 
accordance  with  apostolic  practice,  as  illustrated  both 
in  the  case  of  Matthias  and  in  that  of  the  seven 
deacons,  the  calling  and  ordaining  of  men  to  admin- 
ister the  Word  and  Sacraments  reverts  once  more 
to  the   entire   assembly    of  believers,  to   the   body  of 


The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church.  87 

the  Church.  "  Every  Church  has  lawful  authority  to 
ordain  ministers  for  itself.  For  wherever  the  Church 
is,  there  is  verily  the  command  to  preach  the  Gospel. 
Therefore,  the  churches  undoubtedly  retain  the  au- 
thority to  call,  elect  and  ordain  ministers.  And  this 
authority  is  a  privilege  which  God  has  given  especi- 
ally to  the  Church,  and  it  cannot  be  taken  away  from 
the  Church  by  any  human  power,  as  Paul  testifies, 
Ephesians  iv.  where  he  says:  'When  he  ascended 
up  on  high,  he  led  captivity  captive  and  gave  gifts 
unto  men.'  And  among  these  gifts  which  belong  to 
the  Church,  he  enumerates  pastors  and  teachers,  and 
adds  that  these  were  given  for  the  edifying  of  the 
body  of  Christ.  Wherefore  it  follows  that  wherever 
there  is  a  true  Church,  there  is  also  the  power  to 
elect  and  ordain  ministers."  And  whether  this  ordi- 
nation or  appointment  be  conducted  through  the 
laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery  or  of  a 
single  bishop,  matters  nothing  at  all,  since  the  cere- 
mony of  ordination  is  nothing  more  than  the  minis- 
ter's authorization,  in  the  name  of  the  Church,  to 
perform  official  functions. 

Luther  and  his  co-laborers  accordingly  did  not  frame 
a  new  Church.  They  are  not  to  be  considered  as 
founders  of  a  new  Church,  but,  as  they  themselves  uni- 
formly claimed,  "  renewers  of  the  old  Church  on  the 
ancient  foundations."  Christian  institutions  had  fallen 
into  frightful  decay,  and  the  work  of  the  Lutherans  was 
that  of  renovation  and  preservation.  Under  God 
they  saved  the  Church  from  threatened  destruction. 
The  outward  organization  with  its  officials  and  cere- 
monies which    they    renounced,  is    not   the  veritable 


88  The  'Lutherans  in  America. 

kingdom  of  God.  That  cometh  not  by  observation. 
It  is  a  spiritual  body  with  spiritual  functions.  And 
while  its  life-blood  had  become  seriously  tainted  and 
vitiated  it  still  preserved  the  vital  elements  of  a 
restorative  reaction.  It  had  not  lost  the  inherent 
capacity  for  self-purification.  Its  bosom  still  con- 
tained the  living  power  of  truth. 

Christianity  is  not  a  splendid  hierarchy,  nor  is  it 
a  code  of  priestly  prescriptions,  but  the  Gospel  of 
Salvation.  This  is  its  divine,  imperishable  essence. 
Those  are  human  and  may  pass  away  without  any 
hurt  to  the  vitality  or  integrity  of  the  body  of  Christ. 
The  former  originated  with  the  Lord  himself  and 
was  preached  throughout  the  world  by  his  Apostles ; 
the  latter  came  in  subsequent  ages  when  the  light  of 
the  Scriptures  had  become  obscured  and  men  no 
longer  saw  clearly  the  way  of  life.  And  they  did 
much  to  obstruct  and  corrupt  the  Gospel.  What 
was  needed,  therefore,  to  heal  the  hurt  of  the 
daughter  of  Zion,  was  that  this  life-current,  purified 
and  reinvigorated,  circulate  again  through  every 
part  of  the  organism,  and  in  this  way  recover  its 
apostolic  purity  and  vivific  power.  The  Church 
reappeared  in  its  original  form,  in  its  native  beauty. 
It  renewed  its  youth.  And  the  Reformers  as  they  wit- 
nessed the  triumph  of  their  endeavors,  may  well  have 
challenged  Christendom  to  show  that  a  single  mark 
was  wanting  to  make  the  Church  as  reformed  by 
them  identical  with  the  Church  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. They  were  permitted  to  realize  the  promise 
of  an  abiding  Spirit  wherever  the  Gospel  is  preached. 

There  is,  therefore,  no  pertinence  in  the  sneering 


The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Chtirch.  89 

question,  Where  was  the  Lutheran  Church  before  the 
Reformation?  As  well  ask  where  were  your  hands 
before  you  washed  them?  Where  was  the  wheat  be- 
fore it  was  threshed  from  the  chaff?  Where  was  the 
Jewish  Church  between  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
edict  of  Cyrus  ? 

Could  Paul  and  Peter,  the  reputed  founders  of 
the  Church  at  Rome,  have  returned  to  it  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  nothing  short  of  a  special  revelation 
from  heaven  could  have  made  them  recognize  that 
Church  as  identical  with  the  Church  which  they  had 
planted.  But  had  they  entered  a  church  of  the  Ref- 
ormation they  must  have  rejoiced  to  hear  there  the 
very  doctrines  of  grace  which  they  had  proclaimed, 
to  behold  the  simple  observance  of  the  same  Sacra- 
ments which  they  had  celebrated,  and  to  witness  that 
the  Gospel  from  the  lips  of  reformers,  as  it  had  been 
from  their  own  lips,  was  still  the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation  to  all  them  that  believe. 

The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  is  therefore  the 
revival  and  the  perpetuation  of  the  Apostolic  Church. 
It  is  the  Church  of  the  Bible.  Its  roots  stretch  away 
back  into  the  New  Testament.  Thence  it  draws  its 
life.  There  it  beholds  its  model,  with  which  it  stands 
ready  to  be  compared  and  tried  by  any  competent 
tribunal.  And  if  it  require  any  other  warrant  for  its 
existence,  it  is  its  supreme  purpose  to  have  the  voice 
of  Christ  and  his  Apostles  re-echoed  within  its 
walls,  to  countenance  no  other  gospel  than  what  they 
proclaimed,  and  to  submit  to  no  other  dominion  over 
the  faith  or  the  consciences  of  redeemed  men. 

It  has  given   occasion  for  much  regret  that  a  body 


90 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


of  Christians,  bearing  the  unchallenged  stamp  of 
Apostolic  Christianity,  and  proving  their  identity 
with  it  by  "receiving  nothing  in  doctrine  or  cere- 
monials contrary  to  Scripture  or  to  the  Universal 
Christian  Church,"  should  be  designated  by  the  name 


TRINITY    LUTHERAN    CHURCH,    CANTON,    OHIO. 


of  a  man,  and  one  at  that  whose  great  labors  and 
services  for  the  Church  were  rendered  fifteen  hundred 
years  after  its  foundation.  It  seems  to  detract  from 
her  glory,  if  not  to  discredit  her  legitimacy,  or  in  some 
quarters    to    impede    her    progress,  as    if    her    name 


The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church.  91 

pointed  to  a  human  originator,  or  as  if  Luther  were 
held  in  any  other  light  than  that  of  a  mighty  witness 
for  the  truth. 

Just  how  much  there  is  in  a  name  may  be  gathered 
in  part  from  the  specious  and  lofty  sounding  titles 
appropriated  by  certain  religious  organizations  whose 
errors,  fanaticism  and  warfare  upon  the  historic 
denominations  allow  them  a  very  dubious  claim  to 
recognition  as  a  part  of  the  Christian  Church.  The 
most  sectarian  of  the  sects,  the  bigots  who  manifest 
a  malicious  hostility  towards  the  great  Christian  com- 
munities that  have  forages  borne  the  indelible  signa- 
ture of  God,  the  multiplying  divisions  of  narrow  zealots 
which  form  the  greatest  obstacle  to  the  Church's 
mission,  arrogate  to  themselves  such  names  as  "  Church 
of  God,"  "Disciples  of  Christ,"  "New  Jerusalem," 
"Christians,"  etc.,  as  if  they  constituted  the  veritable 
fold  of  the  redeemed,  while  the  most  exclusive  and 
intolerant  of  all  sects  persists  in  holding  on  to  the 
glaring  misnomer  "Catholic." 

It  is  not  often  that  the  representatives  of  a  cause 
are  allowed  to  select  the  name  for  it,  especially  not 
when  such  a  cause  is  unpopular,  and  every  new  moral 
movement  is  unpopular.  Even  the  felicitous  and 
appropriate  name  of  "Christians"  came,  no  doubt, 
at  first  from  their  enemies  and  by  way  of  reproach. 
"Methodists"  was  the  expression  of  the  prevailing 
contempt  which  was  directed  against  the  earnest  ritu- 
alists and  revivalists  of  the  last  century  in  England 
And  so  the  Lutherans  are  not  responsible  for  the 
name  which  attaches  to  their  Church.  It  was  em- 
ployed as   a  stigma  by  the  malice  of  their  enemies. 


92  TJic  Lutherans  in  America. 

The  term  was  first  used  by  Eck,  when  he  published 
the  Bull  against  Luther.  And  afterwards  all  who  fol- 
lowed  Luther  in  accenting  the  doctrines  of  the  Gos- 
pel and  renouncing  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope  were 
in  derision  called  "  Lutherans."  Even  where  they 
stood  in  remote  connection  with  Luther's  course  or 
departed  widely  from  his  most  pronounced  views, 
wherever  men  turned  away  from  priestly  tutelage  and 
mediation  to  the  free  salvation  offered  in  the  Script- 
ures, they  were  scorned  and  condemned  as  "  Luther- 
ans," just  as  in  the  previous  century  persons  holding 
similar  views  were  branded  as  "  Wycliffites  "  or  ''  Huss- 
ites." The  reformers  in  England  bore  this  title,  so 
did  those  in  Holland  and  in  France,  and  even  papist- 
ical Italy  had  its  "  Lutherans.""  The  saving  doctrine," 
says  Melancthon,  "the  precious,  Holy  Gospel,  they 
call  Lutheran."  Little  wonder  then  that  they  should 
thus  designate  the  Church  he  represented  and  guided. 
What  was  originally  meant  as  a  designation  of 
reproach  becomes  a  title  of  glory.  The  despised 
"beggars"  of  Holland  resolutely  emblazoned  this 
epithet  upon  their  banners  and  taught  their  haughty 
oppressor  that  the  "beggar"  with  God  on  his  side  is 
more  than  a  match  for  the  wealth  and  power  of  Spain. 
The  Methodists  reared  an  enduring  monument  from 
the  reproaches  heaped  upon  them  in  the  early  days 
of  their  movement.  And  though  all  who  love  the 
Church  that  bears  his  honored  name  join  with  Luther 
in  disapproving  of  such  a  title,  and  protest  against  the 
significance  which  such  a  designation  was  meant  to 
convey,  as  if  Luther  were  in  any  sense  either  the 
object  or  lord  of  their  faith,  yet  if   its  repudiation  im- 


The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church.  93 

plies  the  rejection  of  what  Luther  maintained,  the 
way  of  salvation  he  proclaimed,  the  Scriptures  he  de- 
fended, then  will  we  glory  in  this  word  as  indicating 
and  illustrating  the  most  beneficent  and  far-reachingr 
advance  that  Christianity  has  witnessed  since  its  first 
planting  by  the  Apostles. 

The  name  has,  it  may  be,  become  a  historic  neces- 
sity. It  must  be  tolerated  "to  avoid  the  misappre- 
hension and  confusion  which  would  arise  if  it  were 
laid  aside."  "We  do  not  call  ourselves  Lutherans," 
says  Gerhard,  "but  are  so  styled  by  our  enemies,  and 
we  permit  it  as  a  token  of  our  consent  with  the  pure 
teaching  of  the  Word  which  Luther  set  forth.  We 
suffer  ourselves  to  bear  his  name,  not  as  one  who  has 
invented  a  new  faith,  but  of  one  who  has  restored  the 
old,  and  purified  the  Church."  Luther  had  mani- 
festly received  a  mission  from  God  to  lead  back  the 
Church  into  God's  Word  and  to  cleanse  it  from  its 
gross  defilements  and  deformities.  If  this  great  work 
and  the  purified  and  reformed  Church  which  crowns 
and  perpetuates  it,  happen,  by  the  logic  of  events,  to 
be  called  Lutheran,  so  be  it,  we  are  ashamed  neither 
of  God's  truth  nor  of  his  servant.  But  this  in  no 
sense  implies  that  this  Church  rests  her  faith  on 
Luther's  authority. 

"She  has  been  known,"  says  Dr.  Krauth,  "by  vari- 
ous titles,  but  her  own  earliest  and  strongest  prefer- 
ence was  for  the  name  Evangelical,  and  many  of  her 
most  devoted  sons  have  insisted  on  orivinor  her  this 
title  without  any  addition.  No  title  could  more 
strongly  express  her  character,  for  pre-eminently  is 
her   system  one  which  announces  the  glad  tidings  of 


94  The  Ltitherans  in  America. 

salvation,  which  excites  a  joyous  trust  in  Christ  as 
a  Savior,  which  makes  the  Word  and  Sacraments 
bearers  of  saving  grace.  In  no  system  is  Christ  so 
much  as  in  the  Lutheran  ;  none  exalts  so  much  the 
glory  of  his  person,  of  his  office,  and  of  his  work. 
*  *  *  The  name  Evangelical  is  now  oriven,  out  of 
the  bounds  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  to  the  Christian- 
ity of  the  heart  everywhere,  to  all  that  makes  much  of 
Christ  in  the  right  way.  Our  Church  to  which  it 
belongs  in  the  great  historic  sense,  has  a  claim  in  her 
actual  life,  second  to  none,  to  wear  it.  She  is  the 
Evangelical  Church." 

In  another'connection  the  same  author  maintains: 
"Our  Church  is  Reformed  as  against  all  corruptions; 
Protestant  as  against  the  assertion  of  all  false  princi- 
ples in  Christian  faith,  life  and  church  government; 
Evangelical  as  against  legalism  and  rationalism, 
against  all  restricted  atonement  and  arbitrary  limita- 
tion of  God's  love;  and  and  by  a  historical  necessity, 
created  not  by  herself  but  by  her  enemies,  she  is 
Lutheran,  over  against  all  perversions,  mutilations, 
and  misunderstandings  of  the  Word  under  whatever 
name  they  may  come,  though  that  name  be  Reformed, 
Protestant,  Evangelical,  Catholic  or  Christian." 

It  was  a  common  distinction  during  the  Reforma- 
tion, to  speak  of  the  Catholic  and  the  Evangelical  doc- 
trine, and  historians  frequently  retain  this  distinction. 
All  careful  writers  among  Lutheran  divines,  let  it  be 
noted,  invariably  employ  the  historic  title  of  the 
"Evangelical  Lutheran  Church." 

Martin  Luther  holds,  by  universal  recognition,  the 
position  of  the  hero  of  the  Reformation.     A  never-to- 


The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church.  95 

be-forgotten  testimony  to  this  fact  was  witnessed  by 
the  universal  and  enthusiastic  commemoration  of  the 
four  hundreth  anniversary  of  his  birth,  by  the  Protes- 
tant world.  The  great  revolution  was,  under  God, 
made  conspicuously  dependent  upon  his  personal 
action,  and  he  rises  incomparably  above  all  the  re- 
formers of  that  or  any  other  era,  sustaining  a  respon- 
sibility such  as  never  before  rested  upon  any  other 
man,  and  achieving  triumphs  absolutely  without  a 
parallel.  Yet  the  briefest  sketch  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  would  be  glaringly  incomplete  without  some 
allusion  to  the  noble  company  of  his  coadjutors,  a 
circle  of  men  whose  attainments,  character  and  serv- 
ice would  have  rendered  them  illustrious  at  any  time 
and  on  any  stage,  and  whose  contributions  to  the 
results  of  the  Reformation  are  not  obscured  but 
lighted  up  by  the  close  and  cordial  relation  they  sus- 
tained to  their  peerless  leader. 

Foremost  in  this  galaxy  stands  Philip  Melancthon, 
the  inseparable  companion,  the  noble  complement  of 
the  great  Reformer,  a  man  small  of  stature  but  of 
gigantic  intellect,  a  child  in  simplicity  and  sweetness  of 
temper,  but  a  master  in  theology.  Learning  was  his 
passion  and  he  was  proficient  in  the  wisdom  of  Homer, 
of  Plato,  of  Cicero  and  of  Pliny.  His  brilliant  lectures 
in  the  university  were  attended  by  fifteen  hundred  to 
two  thousand  students  and  he  was  named  the  Preceptor 
of  Germany.  Yet  with  all  his  literary  attainments  he 
bowed  with  the  docility  of  childhood  to  the  Divine 
Word  and  was  himself  so  penetrated  with  the  savor 
of  Christ  that  the  sweet  aroma  exhaled  from  all  his 
writings.     The  amiability    and  refinement  of  his  na- 


96  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

ture  are  reflected  in  all  his  theological  productions, 
which  are  marked  with  a  grace  and  a  perspicuity 
which  charm  all  readers  and  which  attest  the  truth  of 
his  own  belief  that  retirement  and  silence  furnish  the 
best  opportunities  for  the  illuminating  action  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  From  him  we  have  the  first  Protestant 
work  on  Systematic  Theology,  the  Loci,  and  it  was 
his  hand  that  penned  the  immortal  Agustana,  the 
pioneer  and  the  paragon  of  Protestant  confessions. 
Never  did  two  hearts  beat  in  fuller  unison  than  those 
of  these  two  great  men,  the  marked  diversity  in  their 
constitution  harmonized  into  a  perfect  unity. 

No  one  of  his  contemporaries  or  successors  could 
be  so  capable  as  was  Luther  himself  of  appreciating 
the  character  and  the  merits  of  his  accomplished 
lieutenant  and  invaluable  supporter.  He  estimated 
him  as  an  indispensable  factor  of  the  Reformation, 
and  he  repeatedly  thanked  God  for  the  gift  of  Me- 
lancthon,  and  on  the  occasion  of  his  extreme  and  des- 
perate illness  he  offered  for  him  the  boldest  and  most 
memorable  prayer  to  be  found  in  uninspired  records. 
"Melancthon  is  a  wonder,"  says  Luther:  "All  men 
confess  it.  He  is  the  most  formidable  enemy  of 
Satan  and  the  schoolmen,  for  he  knows  their  foolish- 
ness and  Christ  the  rock.  The  little  Grecian  sur- 
passes me  even  in  divinity  ;  he  will  be  as  serviceable 
to  you  as  many  Luthers."  "  I  prefer,"  said  he  on 
another  occasion,  "  Melancthon's  books  to  my  own 
and  would  rather  have  them  circulated  than  mine.  I 
was  born  to  battle  with  conspirators  and  devils,  there- 
fore my  books  are  more  vehement  and  warlike.  It  is 
my  work  to   tear  up   the   stumps  and    dead   roots,  to 


The  Evangelical  Lutheran   Church.  97 

clear  away  the  briers,  to  fill  up  the  marshes  and  pools. 
I  am  the  rough  woodman  who  has  to  prepare  the 
way  and  smooth  the  road.  But  Philip  advances 
quietly  and  softly;  he  tills  and  plants  the  ground; 
sows  and  waters  it  joyfully,  according  to  the  gifts 
that  God  has  given  him  with  so  liberal  a  hand." 

During  the  long  contest  few  men  stood  so  near  to 
Luther  as  Nicholas  Amsdorf,  a  man  of  illustrious 
birth,  of  a  sturdy  personality,  of  an  ardent,  impetuous 
temper,  blended  with  a  sincerity  of  mind,  piety, 
straightforwardness  and  courage  that  rendered  him 
infinitely  dear  to  the  Reformer. 

The  two  mutually  understood  and  loved  each  other 
from  the  time  they  became  colleagues  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Wittenberg,  some  years  before  the  out- 
break of  the  Reformation.  Amsdorf  was  one  of  the 
first  to  fall  in  line  with  the  Reformer  when  he  took 
his  decisive  stand,  possessing  then  already  clear  con- 
victions concerning  salvation  through  the  unmerited, 
gratuitous  mercy  of  God,  a  heart  aflame  with  love  for 
the  truth  and  a  firm  faith  in  its  invincible  character 
and  perpetuity.  It  cost  him  comparatively  little  hesi- 
tation to  break  absolutely  with  the  Pope,  and  Rome 
knew  in  reality  no  more  decided  or  incisive  opponent 
than  the  man  whom  friend  and  foe  called  "a  second 
Luther." 

The  Reformer  gratefully  recognized  in  him  as  he 
did  in  Melancthon  a  special  gift  of  Providence  for  the 
crisis.  He  regarded  him  as  a  born  theologian  and 
reposed  such  boundless  confidence  in  his  character 
and  his  opinions  that  he  readily  devolved  on  him  the 
responsibility  of  representing  him  on  important  pub- 


g8  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

lie  occasions,  knowing  with  what  blows  he  would 
smite  the  papacy.  In  the  event  which  seemed  often 
imminent,  of  himself  being  cut  off,  he  reckoned  Ams- 
dorf  among  the  faithful  number  of  those  who  would 
successfully  maintain  the  contest  with  the  enemies  of 
the  gospel.  Luther  calls  him  "my  special  friend,"  and 
it  may  be  questioned  whether  any  of  his  co-workers 
shared  his  confidence  so  unqualifiedly. 

The  fact  that  with  his  independence  of  spirit  and 
bluntness  of  speech  he  did  not  hesitate  to  administer 
reproof  even  to  Luther  himself  when  it  was  required, 
may  have  contributed  momentum  to  the  Reformer's 
exalted  estimation  of  this  man.  He  was  Luther's 
companion  to  the  Diet  at  Worms,  never  leaving  his 
side  during  that  terrible  ordeal.  He  was  his  confi- 
dant in  regard  to  the  latter's  capture  and  exile,  and 
was  the  preacher  whom  Luther  desired  to  supply  his 
Wittenberg  pulpit  during  the  period  of  his  absence. 
The  sphere  of  his  reformatory  labors  was  for  a  long 
time  the  free  and  tumultuous  city  of  Magdeburg. 
His  services  were,  however,  in  demand  in  various 
quarters  of  Germany,  but  he  deferred  to  Luther's 
judgment  and  remained  at  that  post,  while  offers  of 
promotion  to  very  lucrative  positions  under  the  hie- 
rarchy he  peremptorily  spurned  as  incompatible  with 
his  conscience. 

The  most  influential  co-laborer  in  the  development 
and  spread  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation  was,  next 
to  Melancthon,  undoubtedly  Johann  Bugenhagen,  an- 
other of  those  wonderfully  constituted  characters 
whom  natural  endowments  and  providential  training 
had    prepared    for    co-operation    in    the   great   work. 


The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church.  99 

He  sprang  from  a  senatorial  family,  and  was  com- 
monly named  the  Pommern,  after  his  native  country, 
Pomerania. 

From  early  childhood  he  was  acquainted  with  the 
Scriptures  but,  held  under  the  spell  which  the  legal- 
ism and  Pharisaism  of  Rome  had  cast  over  the 
Church,  he,  like  many  of  his  day  whose  hearts  were 
groaning  for  the  salvation  of  the  gospel,  was  kept  in 
darkness  until  he  heard  Luther's  proclamation  of  the 
grace  of  God  received  through  faith  alone.  He  is 
described  as  a  charming  and  imposing  personality, 
blending-  in  his  character  the  virtues  of  gentleness 
and  firmness.  By  his  knowledge  of  men  and  an  ex- 
tensive experience  in  various  positions  of  responsi- 
bility, he  had  gained  clear  conceptions  of  the  circum- 
stances and  reo.1  needs  of  the  people,  and  by  his 
humanistic  education  and  his  long  career  as  a  teacher 
he  had  become  such  a  master  of  philology  as  to  afford 
the  most  valuable  assistance  in  the  translation  of  the 
Scriptures.  Fleeing  from  the  persecution  of  the 
Catholics  he  took  refuge  at  Wittenberg,  immediately 
won  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  Luther  and  Me- 
lancthon,  and  was  constrained  to  join  the  corps  of 
professors  at  the  University.  On  seeing  his  exposi- 
tion of  the  Psalms  which  he  delivered  shortly  after, 
Luther  enthusiastically  pronounced  him  the  first  man 
on  earth  who  deserved  to  be  called  an  expositor  of 
the  Psalms.  Declining  the  most  inviting  and  splendid 
ecclesiastical  positions  to  which  he  was  called  from 
time  to  time,  he  took  a  self-denying,  energetic  and 
most  important  part  in  all  the  varied  activities  rend- 
ered necessary  for  the  reformation  of  the  Church. 


ST.  PAUL  S  GERMAN  EVANGELICAL  LUTHERAN  CHURCH,  CHICAGO,  ILL. 


The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church.  101 

But  his  peculiar  and  pre-eminent  qualification  lor 
the  Reformation  lay  in  the  sphere  of  administration. 
He  was  the  Reformer  who  knew  how  to  give  the  new 
evangelical  life  in  the  Church  an  organic  body,  to 
reconstruct  the  outward  constitutional  form  in  accord- 
ance with  the  newly  won  principles.  He  has  been 
properly  called  "The  Pastor"  of  the  Reformation. 
In  England  he  would  have  been  called  "The  Bishop" 
For  thirty-six  years  he  stood  at  the  head  of  the 
Wittenberg  Parish,  and  was  during  a  portion 
of  this  period  also  General  Superintendent  of  the 
Electorate. 

But  his  organizing  faculty,  so  rare  among  a  people 
who  had  for  ages  been  deprived  of  all  share  in  the 
government  of  the  Church,  was  everywhere  in  demand, 
and,  obtaining  leave  of  absence,  he  effected  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Evangelical  Church  in  Brunswick,  in 
Hamburg,  Luebeck,  and  in  his  native  Pomerania.  He 
also  crave  its  constitution  to  the  Church  of  Den- 
mark,  and  with  such  admirable  results  that  he  is  to 
this  day  claimed  by  the  Danes  as  the  Reformer  of 
that  country.  On  him  devolved  the  honor  of  deliver- 
ing the  funeral  sermon  of  Luther,  but  his  emotion 
rendered  it  often  impossible  to  proceed,  while  yet  he 
comforted  himself  and  the  great  throng  of  his  hearers 
that  the  doctrine  of  this  precious  man  continued  and 
would  abide  forever. 

One  of  the  most  faithful,  zealous  and  worthy  asso- 
ciates of  Luther  in  bringing  a  new  spiritual  life  into 
the  Church  was  Justus  Jonas.  He  had,  at  an  early 
period  in  his  career,  been  recognized  by  Erasmus  as  "a 
vessel  chosen  of  God  to  glorify  his  Son  Jesus  Christ." 


102  T/w  Lutherans  z'n  America. 

He  first  met  Luther  as  the  latter  was  nearing  Erfurt 
on  his  famous  journey  to  Worms,  and  exacted  his 
permission  to  accompany  him  to  that  den  of  lions. 
From  that  time  on  till  he  watched  over  the  death 
struggle  of  the  Reformer  at  Eisleben,  the  most  inti- 
mate relation  and  co-operation  bound  the  two  souls 
together. 

Jonas  had  for  awhile  followed  the  profession  of 
law  and  his  experience  as  a  jurist  served  him  often  in 
good  turn  in  the  varied  contests  and  negotiations 
that  form  so  large  a  part  of  Reformation  history. 
His  regular  official  labors  at  Wittenberg  were  divided 
between  preaching  and  teaching  theology,  but  like 
his  companions  he  was  indefatigably  occupied  amid 
the  stirring  scenes  and  countless  problems  of  the 
hour,  and  on  each  momentous  public  occasion,  at 
Worms,  at  Marburg,  at  Augsburg  and,  in  1538,  at  the 
Frankfort  Conference,  Justus  Jonas  forms  one  of  the 
heroes  of  the  imposing  drama. 

He  rendered  valuable  services  in  the  translation  of 
the  Bible,  and  also  translated  a  number  of  the  most 
important  writings  of  Luther  and  Melancthon  from 
the  Latin  into  German,  and  others  from  the  German 
into  Latin.  But  his  pre-eminent  gift  was  that  of  elo- 
quence "in  speech  and  in  writing."  He  was  the  orator 
of  the  Reformation.  "No  preacher  ever  surpassed 
him  in  the  power  of  captivating  his  hearers."  "Pome- 
ranus  is  a  critic,"  said  Melancthon;  "I  am  a  dialecti- 
cian, Jonas  is  an  orator,  from  whose  lips  flow  words 
of  wonderful  beauty  and  an  eloquence  full  of  power." 

A  historian  exclaims:  "Divine  Providence  gathered 
around  Luther  men  who  were  destined  to  be  the  licdit 

o 


The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church.  103 

of  Germany,  Melancthon,  Amsdorf,  Bugenhagen  and 
Jonas."  But  a  host  of  worthies  are  entitled  in  almost 
equal  measure  with  those  spoken  of,  to  rank  among 
the  conspicuous  gifts  of  Providence  for  the  devel- 
opment and  maintenance  of  Luther's  work.  What 
cause  ever  had,  since  the  days  of  the  Apostles,  such 
sturdy,  stalwart,  self-denying  partisans  ? 

It  is  to  be  seriously  regretted  that  space  fails 
here  to  speak  of  Spalatin,  the  pious  scholar,  the  trusty, 
sapient  adviser  of  three  Saxon  electors,  the  intimate 
friend  of  Luther  and  his  immediate  colleagues,  the 
courtier  who,  in  his  close  relation  to  the  sovereign, 
and  especially  as  the  inter-mediary  between  Luther 
and  the  elector  Frederick,  was  able  to  exert  an  incal- 
culable influence  upon  the  Reformation,  whose  prin- 
ciples he  shared  with  his  whole  heart. 

Of  Myconius,  the  Reformer  of  Thuringia,  the  his- 
torian of  the  Reformation,  who  had  implored  Tetzel 
to  grant  him  an  Indulgence  gratis,  and  who  having, 
like  Luther,  agonized  for  years  in  the  struggle  for 
justification  by  means  of  penances  and  mortifications, 
fell  at  last  into  despair  over  his  salvation.  From  this 
he  was  delivered  by  the  proclamation  of  grace  in  the 
ninety-five  theses,  and  afterwards,  often  at  the  peril 
of  his  life,  he  consecrated  far  and  near  all  his  powers 
to  the  service  of  the  Reformation.  As  theologian 
he  accompanied  the  embassy  of  the  Elector  to  Henry 
VIII,  in  1538,  for  the  furtherance  of  the  Reformation 
in  England.  He  is  always  spoken  of  as  "  Luther's 
friend." 

Of  Cruciger,  one  of  the  mildest  and  purest  char- 
acters that  adorned  the   Evangelical   revolution,  who 


io4 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


was  won  to  it  "quietly"  at  the  Leipsic  Disputation. 
He  was  held  in  such  esteem  by  Luther  that  the 
latter  had  at  one  time  fixed  upon  him  as  his  successor 
in  the  event  of  his  decease.  His  knowledo-e  Gf  medi- 
cine  and  of   the   natural  sciences,  as   well   as   of   He- 


LUTHERAN    HOSPITAL,    JACKSONVILLE,    ILL. 

brew,  proved   of   great    service    in   the   translation  of 
the  Bible. 

Of  Brenz,  the  reformer  of  Wurtemburg,  distin- 
guished equally  as  an  author,  an  organizer,  an  admin- 
istrator, and  a  confessor  who  suffered  for  Lutheran 
convictions.  Of  Osiander,  Agricola,  and  Blaurer  ;  of 
Frederick  the  Wise,  John  Frederick  the  Magnani- 
mous, John  the  Constant,  Ernest  of  Luneberg,  Mar- 
grave George  of  Brandenburg,  Wolfgang,  Prince  of 
Anhalt,  Gustavus  Vasa,  and  other  great  potentates, 
men  who  counted  not  their  lives  dear,  men  who  placed 


The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church.  105 

their  persons  and  property,  their  country  and  their 
all  in  jeopardy  for  the  Gospel,  men  so  deeply  pene- 
trated by  evangelical  truth  and  so  confident  of  its 
triumph,  that  they  rivalled  the  theologians  and  the 
preachers  in  their  zeal  for  its  unhindered  proclama- 
tion among  the  people  and  for  the  renovation  of 
the  Church. 

On  Melancthon  objecting  to  his  Elector  signing 
the  Augsburg"  Confession  lest  it  would  involve  him  in 
danger:  "God  forbid,"  he  replied,  "that  I  should  be 
excluded.  I  am  resolved  to  do  my  duty  without 
being  troubled  about  my  crown.  I  desire  to  confess 
the  Lord.  My  Electoral  hat  and  robes  are  not  so 
precious  to  me  as  the  Cross  of  Jesus  Christ."  An- 
other prince  voicing  his  deep  convictions  declared  : 
"If  the  honor  of  my  Lord  Jesus  requires  it,  I  am 
ready  to  leave  my  goods  and  life  behind  me." 
"Rather  would  I  renounce  my  subjects  and  my 
states,"  exclaimed  the  prince  of  Anhalt,  "rather  would 
I  quit  the  country  of  my  fathers,  staff  in  hand  ;  rather 
would  I  gain  my  bread  by  cleaning  the  shoes  of 
foreigners,  than  to  receive  any  other  doctrine  than 
that  which  is  contained  in  the  Confession."  This  is 
the  language,  not  of  theologians,  not  of  preachers 
educated  and  trained,  who  had  made  a  special  or 
professional  study  of  the  sacred  science,  but  of  po- 
litical lords,  of  great  men  of  the  world,  of  princes 
and  laymen,  who  felt  that  every  precious  interest  was 
involved  in  the  restoration  of  the  pure  gospel. 

The  part  enacted  by  the  laity  in  the  Reformation 
would,  indeed,  make  a  large  and  telling  volume,  ac- 
centing, as  it  would,  the  fact  that  this  movement  was 


ro6  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

largely  a  revolt  against  the  clerical  order,  a  renun- 
ciation of  all  priestly  usurpations,  and  a  return  to 
the  simple  constitution  of  the  primitive  church,  which 
knows  of  no  essential  distinction  between  clergy  and 
laity,  but  embraces  all  men  in  a  Christian  brother- 
hood. And,  excepting  a  few  prominent  leaders,  who 
like  Luther  had,  under  the  old  regime,  taken  orders, 
the  Reformation  may  justly  be  said  to  owe  its  success 
mainly  to  an  aroused,  intelligent,  and  consecrated 
laity.  Luther,  it  is  well-known,  taught  at  an  early 
stage  that  even  Christian  women,  and  every  one  who 
has  been  baptized,  were,  in  truth,  as  much  priests  as 
the  pope,  bishops  and  priests  of  the  hierarchy,  and 
that  men  are  "to  put  no  faith  in  any  other  oracle 
than  the  Holy  Scriptures." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   EARLIEST  LUTHERANS  IN   AMERICA THE  DUTCH. 

TO  the  devout  historian  it  was  a  notable  coinci- 
dence that  just  at  the  time  that  Martin 
Luther  was  born  into  the  world,  Christopher 
Columbus  was  seized  with  the  conviction  that  Heaven 
had  commissioned  him  to  discover  a  new  world,  and  to 
find  a  new  domain  for  the  Christian  Church.  It  de- 
volved upon  him,  he  believed  in  his  heart,  to  plant  the 
standard  of  the  cross  upon  shores,  concerning 
whose  existence  men  had  then  as  little  knowledge  as 
as  they  had  of  the  possibility  of  a  Church  of  Christ 
outside  the  barriers  of  the  Roman  hierarchy.  It  was 
in  1483,  the  year  of  Luther's  birth,  that  the  discoverer 
of  America  found  for  the  first  time  an  opportunity  of 
laying  his  daring  and  visionary  enterprise  before  a 
European  court.  And  nine  years  later,  while  Luther 
was  being  taught  in  the  schools  of  Mansfeldt  the  Ten 
Commandments,  the  Apostles'  Creed  and  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  and  was  often  unmercifully  beaten  by  the 
schoolmaster,  Chistopher  Columbus,  after  breaking 
the  silence  of  ages  over  the  trackless  waters,  offers  the 
first  Christian  worship  in  this  western  world,  falling 
upon  his  knees,  and  with  tears  of  joy,  giving  thanks  to 
God,  kissing  the  new  earth  which  He  had  given  him, 
and  consecrating  it  to  His  glory  by  naming  the  first 
islands  discovered  San  Salvador  and  Santa  Trinidata. 
And  just  as  all  Europe  is  quaking  from  the  commo- 
tion which  the  revived  faith  of  the  Gospel  had  pro- 

107 


io8  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

duced,  Cortez  is  marching  his  little  band  of  heroic 
Spaniards  into  the  gates  of  Mexico,  overthrowing 
the  most  powerful  tribes  of  the  Aborigines,  and 
opening  the  way  for  the  conquest  of  the  New  World 
by  the  Missionaries  of  the  Cross. 

But  heaven  could  not  consent  that  the  debased 
type  of  Christianity,  which  was  represented  by  the 
bigoted  and  cruel  Spaniards,  and  which  was  about  to 
be  overwhelmed  in  Europe  by  the  outburst  of  a  new 
life  in  the  Church,  should  appropriate  this  virgin  soil. 
This  must  be  reserved  for  the  spread  and  the  sway  of 
a  purer  faith.  The  inestimable  treasures  of  truth, 
which  had  just  been  recovered  from  the  debris  of 
ages,  were  destined  to  find  here  a  theater  for  their 
fullest  expansion  and  for  the  unfolding  of  their 
noblest  products.  What  a  miscarriage  of  history  it 
would  have  been,  had  a  system,  staggering  under  the 
fatal  blows  of  the  manifest  hand  of  Providence,  seized 
at  the  very  crisis  a  new  continent  for  its  baleful  tri- 
umphs. God  never  meant  America  to  become  Roman 
Catholic.  This  land  was  to  be  the  home  of  the  free. 
That  power  which  has  always  been  the  enemyof  free- 
dom was  not  to  acquire  here  an  opportunity  for  strang- 
ling the  genius  of  liberty  when  it  took  refuge  in  this 
western  world. 

The  gospel,  in  the  glorious  revelation  it  makes  of 
the  dignity  of  the  human  soul  and  the  equality  and 
brotherhood  of  all  men,  is  the  mighty  liberator,  and 
here  it  was  foreordained  to  have  a  sphere,  untram- 
melled by  chains  or  bars,  for  creating  a  nation  of 
freemen.  It  is  from  these  shores  that  liberty  is  des- 
tined to  enlighten   the  world.     Roman  Catholic  gov- 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Dutch.  109 

ernments,  with  their  maritime  ascendency  at  the  time, 
might  serve  as  agents  in  the  discovery  and  explora- 
tion of  this  vast  continent,  they  might  open  the  way 
across  the  sea  for  the  grand  march  of  colonization 
and  immigration,  but  the  establishment  of  institu- 
tions must  be  left  to  the  hands  of  men  who  had 
learned  in  the  school  of  Luther,  who  had  imbibed 
the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  and  who  knew 
to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  republic  in  which  the 
freedom  of  conscience  and  the  rights  of  the  indi- 
vidual should  be  forever  secure.  An  insolent  and 
infamous  Pope,  Alexander  VI.,  by  a  solemn  decree 
gave,  indeed,  the  whole  New  World  to  Spain,  but 
one  greater  than  the  Pope  gave  it  to  a  people  who 
along  with  Luther  had  renounced  all  papal  authority. 
Alexander's  infallibility  must,  about  this  time,  have 
been  nodding. 

It  is  certainly  noteworthy  that  while  for  a  period 
of  more  than  a  hundred  years  after  the  discovery  of 
this  continent,  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Spain  and 
France  and  Portugal  were  planting  their  settlements 
and  missionary  stations  over  a  vast  area,  extending 
from  Florida  to  California,  they  were  not  permitted 
by  Providence  to  lay  the  foundation  on  which  the 
permanent  institutions  of  a  mighty  Empire  were  to 
be  erected.  Their  ideas  and  principles  so  far  from 
leaving  a  permanent  impress  upon  this  country,  con- 
tributed so  little  to  the  formation  of  its  government 
that  even  the  existence  of  these  settlements  is  un- 
known except  to  the  student  of  history. 

Speaking  of  the  Spaniards  Bryant,  in  his  history, 
remarks  :  "  Fortunately  for  the  progress  of  the  human 


i  io  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

race  and  the  future  history  of  North  America,  all 
their  efforts  to  gain  a  permanent  foothold  north  of 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  were  in  the  main  unsuccessful." 
And  another  eminent  American  historian,  Dr.  Dor- 
chester, observes:  "While  thirst  for  gold,  lust  of 
power  and  love  of  daring  adventure  served  the  provi- 
dential purpose  of  opening  the  New  World  to  papal 
Europe,  and  Roman  Catholic  colonies  were  success- 
fully planted  in  some  portions,  the  territory  origi- 
nally comprised  within  the  United  States  was  mysteri- 
ously guarded  and  reserved  for  another — a  prepared 
people," — a  people  brought  forth  in  the  pangs  of  the 
Reformation,  possessed  of  new  ideas  and  loftier  aims 
and  intended  by  Providence  to  found  in  the  New 
WTorld  a  great  Christian  Republic,  one  of  the  might- 
iest agencies  in  human  progress. 

While  the  first  Protestant  colonists  owed  their  re- 
ligious faith  and  their  convictions  of  civil  polity  to 
the  Lutheran  Reformation,  the  true  adherents  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  could  not,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
take  the  leading  part  in  the  early  settlement  of  this 
country.  England  and  the  Netherlands,  and  in  some 
measure  Sweden,  were  in  the  seventeenth  century  the 
only  maritime  nations  among  the  Protestants  of 
Europe,  the  only  powers,  accordingly,  that  were  pre- 
pared to  establish  colonies  beyond  the  sea.  "The 
Reformation,"  says  Bancroft,  "followed  by  collisions 
between  English  Dissenters  and  the  Anglican  Hie- 
rarchy colonized  New  England.  The  Reformation 
emancipating  the  United  Provinces,  led  to  European 
settlements  on  the  Hudson." 

But  although  debarred  through  lack  of  commercial 


The  Earliest  Ltitherans  in  America —  The  Dutch.  1 1 1 

equipments  from  having  the  ascendency  in  the  origi- 
nal colonization  of  America,  it  was  in  accordance 
with  the  fitness  of  things  that  Lutherans  should  form 
an  element  in  some  of  the  earliest  Protestant  settle- 
ments. Providence  has  in  many  instances  employed 
them  as  the  leaven  where  others  held  the  more  con- 
spicuous place  of  the  loaf.  Their  scriptural  faith, 
their  intelligence  their  industry,  thrift  and  sturdy 
moral  principles  constitute,  it  is  well  known,  invalua- 
ble factors  in  a.  liberal  and  prosperous  state,  and  it 
may  be  attributed  to  Providence  that  the  earliest 
settlement  of  Lutherans  in  this  land  is  almost  coinci- 
dent with  its  permanent  settlement. 

The  first  representatives  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
in  this  country  came  notably,  not  from  Germany,  the 
home  of  Lutheranism,  but  from  Holland,  the  land 
which  during  the  Reformation  furnished  the  first  mar- 
tyrs for  the  evangelical  faith,  an  event  which  called 
forth  Luther's  well-known  hymn  "Ein  neues  Lied  wir 
heben  an,"  said  to  have  been  his  earliest  hymno- 
logical  composition.  Although  the  Reformation  as- 
sumed there  at  an  early  period  an  extreme  Calvin- 
istic  type,  prosperous  congregations  of  Lutherans 
maintained  themselves  in  different  parts  of  the 
country,  the  strongest  of  them  being  the  Church  at 
Amsterdam  which  afterward  became  "the  foster- 
mother  of  the  Dutch  Lutheran  congregations  in  New 
York  and  New  Jersey."  There  is  no  evidence  of 
their  suffering  persecution  from  the  State  Church 
prior  to  the  rise  of  the  Arminian  party.  From  that 
time  on,  although  they  had  no  sympathy  with  Armin- 
ian   doctrines,   yet    as    they    had    along   with    their 


112  The  Ltithera?is  in  America. 

brethren  in  other  lands  always  stoutly  repudiated  the 
extreme  tenets  of  Calvinism,  they  became  involved 
in  the  bitter  and  relentless  persecution  of  the  Armin- 
ians  which  followed  the  Synod  of  Dort  in  1618. 
Intolerance  did  not  stop  to  make  any  distinctions 
among  the  opponents  of  rigorous  Calvinism,  and 
Lutherans  fell  a  prey  to  the  same  religious  fury  which 
beheaded  a  Barneveldt  and  imprisoned  a  Grotius. 

To  what  extent  their  sufferings  for  conscience'  sake 
had  a  part  in  leading  them  to  embark  with  others  of 
their  countrymen  for  the  New  World  is  not  known, 
neither  have  we  any  evidence  of  opposition  being 
offered  to  their  coming.  It  seems  quite  probable 
that  the  religious  oppressions  as  well  as  the  political 
commotions  which  held  sway  in  their  native  land, 
prompted  them  to  go  beyond  the  seas  in  quest  of 
peace  and  worldly  prosperity,  if  not  primarily  for  the 
sake  of  religious  freedom.  Some  of  them  appear, 
at  all  events,  to  have  come  with  the  first  Dutch  colony 
which  in  1623  occupied  Manhattan  Island,  the  terri- 
tory now  comprised  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

The  prospect  of  commercial  advantages  had  led 
the  Holland  West  India  Company  to  found  this 
colony,  and  but  little  concern  was  consequently  mani- 
fested for  the  religious  interests  of  the  settlers.  At 
least  five  years  elapsed  before  the  first  minister  of 
the  Reformed  Church,  Jonas  Michaelius,  came  over 
and  assumed  pastoral  care  at  New  Amsterdam. 

How  early  the  Lutheran  settlers  took  steps  to  or- 
ganize a  congregation  or  to  celebrate  worship  accord- 
ing to  the  order  of  their  Church,  cannot  be  clearly 
determined,  but  when  they  moved  to  have  the  service 


The  Earliest  Luther  aits  in  America — The  Dutch.     1 13 

of  their  own  precious  faith  they  at  once  encountered 
strong  and  persistent  opposition  from  the  Reformed, 
who  represented  the  State  Church  of  the  fatherland. 


And  the  first  picture  of  Lutherans  in  America  is  that 
of  a  noble  band  suffering  persecution,  Lutherans  in 
the  Netherlands  having  been  the  first  Protestants  to 


H4  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

obtain  the  crown  of  martyrdom,  Lutherans  from  the 
same  country  were  now  destined  to  be  the  first  Prot- 
estants in  America  to  have  the  honor  of  sufTerincr 
solely  for  their  religious  opinions.  For  although  the 
English  Calvinists  in  Massachusetts  were  engaged  in 
whipping  and  hanging  Quakers  and  banishing  Bap- 
tists at  the  same  time  that  the  Dutch  Calvinists  were 
fining  and  imprisoning  Lutherans  on  the  Hudson,  it 
is  pretty  clearly  established  now  that  Roger  W  illiams 
Ann  -Hutchinson,  and  the  Quakers  generally,  who 
were  so  obnoxious  to  the  Puritans,  were  not  made  to 
suffer  for  their  religious  views  so  much  as  for  their 
disturbance  of  civil  order,  their  menace  to  the  peace 
and  stability  of  the  colony,  their  dangerous  political 
tenets  and  their  wanton  defiance  of  the  constituted 
civil  authority.  The  Lutherans,  on  the  other  hand» 
never  in  all  history  employed  their  religious  teach- 
ings for  the  subversion  of  government.  They  never 
figured  as  political  agitators,  and  the  little  band 
on  Manhattan  Island  sought  only  the  enjoyment 
of  their  spiritual  rights  under  their  own  vine  and 
fig-tree. 

The  first  distinct  mention  of  the  Lutherans  at  New 
Amsterdam  is  from  the  pen  of  the  Jesuit  Missionary, 
Jogues,  whom  the  Dutch  had  rescued  from  captivity 
among  the  Iroquois,  and  who  spent  the  time  from 
August,  1642,  to  November,  1643,  in  the  colony.  He 
says:  "No  religion  is  publicly  exercised  but  the  Cal- 
vinist,  and  orders  are  to  admit  none  but  Calvinists, 
but  this  is  not  observed,  for  there  are  bejide  Calvin- 
ists, in  the  colony,  English  Puritans,  Lutherans,  Ana- 
baptists, here  called  Minists"  (Mennonites). 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Dutch.    115 

The  opposition  to  Lutheran  worship  appears  to 
have  been  for  awhile  not  so  inexorable  as  to  drive 
them  from  the  colony  or  to  prevent  their  assembling 
in  private  dwellings  where  religious  services  after  the 
Lutheran  form  were  conducted  by  one  of  their  num- 
ber. The  little  band  in  the  wilderness,  without 
bishop  or  priest,  formed  with  God's  Word  a  true 
Church  of  Christ.  They  had  a  bitter  grievance  in 
connection  with  the  baptism  of  their  children.  This 
sacrament  had  to  be  administered  by  the  Reformed 
pastor  who  required  of  sponsors  a  profession  of  faith 
which  to  a  Lutheran  conscience  must  have  been,  to 
:say  the  least,  unsatisfactory  and   compromising. 

The  settlement  of  Rev.  John  Megapolensis  as  pas- 
tor of  the  Reformed  Church  of  New  Amsterdam,  in 
1649,  was  the  signal  of  more  rigorous  measures 
against  the  Lutherans  and  all  non-conformists.  The 
congregation  considered  itself  capable  of  maintain- 
ing a  pastor  and  desired  to  call  one  from  Holland, 
formally  petitioning  Governor  Stuyvesant  for  the 
privilege  of  worshipping  publicly  in  a  church  by  them- 
selves. The  resistance  offered  by  the  Reformed  pas- 
tors against  this  petition  was  so  strenuous,  that  the 
Governor,  who  was  himself  a  zealous  Calvinist,  re- 
fused his  permission  "  for  the  reason  that  he  was 
bound  by  his  oath  to  tolerate  openly  no  other  re- 
ligion than  the  Reformed." 

The  Lutherans  hereupon  addressed  themselves  to 
the  West  India  Company  and  to  the  Home  Govern- 
ment. The  Reformed  Pastors  made  a  counter-ap- 
peal to  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam,  to  which  had  been 
-entrusted  the    office   of  supervision   of  ecclesiastical 


116  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

affairs  in  America,  urging  the  dangerous  conse- 
quences of  making  such  concessions  to  the  Lutherans, 
and  entreating  them  to  prevent  their  being  made.  It 
would  be  a  dangerous  precedent. 

The  instructions  which  came  from  Holland  in  re- 
sponse to  these  appeals,  were  "  that  they  would  encour- 
age no  other  doctrine  in  New  Netherlands  than  the 
true  Reformed."  No  violence,  indeed, was  sanctioned, 
but  it  was  made  incumbent  on  the  Governor  "to  use 
all  moderate  exertions  to  allure  the  Lutherans  to  the 
Dutch  Churches  and  to  matriculate  them  in  the  Pub- 
lic Reformed  religion."  The  tolerance  granted  them 
in  the  fatherland  is  to  be  denied  in  free  America,  and 
this  document,  bearing  date  February  26,  1654,  ex- 
presses the  hope  that  the  Reformed  Religion  would 
now  "be  preserved  and  maintained  without  hinderance 
from  the  Lutherans  and  other  errors." 

The  Lutherans  have  somehow  always  been  consid- 
ered a  "hinderance"  by  their  sister  churches.  They 
have  always  stood  in  their  way.  Their  presence  has 
been  dreaded  as  a  menace  to  sectarian  ascendency 
and  an  obstruction  to  sacerdotal  power.  Their  popu- 
lar worship,  their  evangelical  doctrine,  their  childlike 
faith  and  spiritual  freedom  can  never  hope  for  a 
welcome  among  those  who  are  still  partial  to  the 
bonds  of  legalism  and  who  look  to  works  as  well  as 
to  faith  as  a  condition  to  salvation.  Standing  mid- 
way between  the  sensualizing  ceremonials  and  dogmas 
of  Rome  and  the  pronounced  subjectivity  of  the  Re- 
formed system,  a  position  rendered  impregnable  by 
history  as  well  as  by  the  Scriptures,  the  Lutheran 
Church  is  no  more  likely  to  command  favor  with  the 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Dutch.  1 1  7 

denominations  of  the  Reformed  type  than  with  the 
papal  communion.  Happily  she  has  vitality  enough 
not  to  be  dependent  on  this  favor.  Woe  to  her  if 
she  ever  courts  it  at  the  expense  of  her  principles. 

Sustained  by  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  of  the 
mother  country  the  Calvinist  Governor  of  New- 
Amsterdam  and  his  intolerant  preachers  now  resolved 
on  crushing  out  the  Lutherans.  Failing  in  the  effort 
"to  allure"  them  into  the  Dutch  churches,  and  by  this 
means  to  absorb  them,  as  they  had  been  instructed 
by  the  Directors,  they  resolved  that  resort  must  be  had 
to  penalties  and  imprisonments.  Persecution  must 
be  tried  where  persuasion  failed.  Parents  were 
henceforth  required  on  presenting  their  children  for 
baptism  to  profess  their  belief  in  the  doctrines  of  the 
Synod  of  Dort,  the  most  extreme  deliverances  ever 
put  forth  by  Calvinism,  and  they  must  even  promise 
to  train  up  their  children  in  the  same — that  is,  to 
teach  their  offspring  tenets  which  in  their  hearts  they 
abhorred,  knowing  them  to  be  contrary  to  the  Gos- 
pel. Rome  never  did  greater  violence  to  the  con- 
science, never  showed  stronger  determination  to  force 
error  into  the  minds  of  the  unwilling.  Resistance  to 
these  oppressive  and  sinful  demands  was  followed  by 
arrest,  by  fines,  and  in  default  of  payment  the  recu- 
sants were  thrown  into  prison.  They  must  by  force 
be  made  to  conform  to  Calvinism. 

Steadfast  in  their  convictions  and  with  the  courage 
of  martyrs  the  Lutherans  persisted  in  having  their 
assemblies  for  worship,  and  as  their  numbers,  in  spite 
of  their  persecutions,  were  continually  increasing  and 
their   spirit  growing   more   resolute   and   defiant,  the 


1 1 8  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

wrath  of  the  Reformed  Pastors  became  more  bitter 
and  violent.  They  lodged  complaint  with  the  Gov- 
ernor against  their  "Conventicles,"  as  meetings  for 
worship  not  authorized  by  the  government  were  then 
called.  Such  meetings,  they  claimed,  were  sure  to 
breed  disorder  in  Church  and  State,  and  they  suc- 
ceeded in  having  him  issue  a  proclamation  "for  the 
promotion  of  the  glory  of  God,  the  increase  of  the 
Reformed  Religion,"  etc.,  forbidding  the  holding  of 
conventicles  not  in  harmony  with  the  established 
religion,  as  set  forth  by  the  Synod  of  Dort.  A  fine  of 
one  hundred  Flemish  pounds  was  imposed  for  every 
violation  of  this  ordinance  by  the  preaching  of  a  ser- 
mon, and  twenty-five  pounds  on  all  persons  guilty  of 
meeting  in  private  dwellings  for  the  purpose  of  wor- 
shipping together.  The  penalty  for  preaching  the  Gos- 
pel was  accordingly  one  hundred  pounds,  the  penalty 
for  hearing  it  twenty-five  pounds.  Lutheran  services 
even  in  private  houses  were  thus  absolutely  sup- 
pressed. Mennonites  and  Quakers  shared  with  Lu- 
therans the  honors  and  the  horrors  of  these  persecu- 
tions, but  the  published  placard  at  Albany  (then 
Beverswycke),  specifically  singled  out  the  Lutheran 
congregation  there  as' the  particular  object  of  this 
prohibition  of  worship. 

The  Lutheran  people  were  not  dismayed,  nor  dis- 
posed to  surrender  their  precious  rights  to  worship 
God  according  to  the  faith  of  their  Church.  They 
now  had  recurrence  to  their  brethren  in  Holland  and 
sought  especially  their  intervention  with  the  authori- 
ties of  the  established  Church,  with  the  Directors  of 
the  West  India  Company  and  with  the  States  General,. 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Dutch.  1 19 

in  regard  to  their  grievances,  entreating  that  there 
might  be  granted  them,  "the  united  members  of  the 
Church  of  the  unaltered  Augsburg  Confession,"  the 
same  tolerance  and  right  of  worship  here  which  the 
Lutherans  enjoyed  in  Holland,  and  that  an  ordained 
minister  of  their  faith  might  be  sent  over  "to  instruct 
them  and  take  care  of  their  souls."  A  more  favora- 
ble response  was  now  vouchsafed.  The  "  overprecise" 
and  oppressive  measures  of  Stuyvesant  were  rebuked, 
a  more  liberal  policy  was  enjoined  as  being  indeed 
indispensable  to  the  promotion  of  emigration.  The 
doctrine  of  the  unaltered  Aucrsburo-  Confession  should 
have  the  same  toleration  in  the  New  Netherlands 
which  was  accorded  it  in  the  fatherland  and  a  pastor 
for  them,  it  was  promised,  would  arrive  the  following 
spring.  After  this  these  persecuted  people  certainly 
had  reason  to  hope  that  they  would  no  longer  be 
denied  the  privileges  of  their  religion,  and  in  most 
humble  terms  they  implored  Stuyvesant  to  allow 
them  at  least  the  service  of  sacred  reading  and  sing- 
ing. But  the  Reformed  pastors  were  only  exaspera- 
ted by  the  orders  of  the  West  India  Company  to 
adopt  a  milder  and  more  Christian  course  of  conduct. 
They  were  inexorable,  and  in  defiance  of  these  orders 
secured  the  continuance  of  oppressive  measures  and 
the  further  prohibition  of  conventicles  until  they 
could  once  more  communicate  with  the  home  author- 
ities. And  they  forthwith  renewed  their  "importuni- 
ties with  their  friends  in  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam,  to 
save  them  from  so  terrible  an  evil  as  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Lutheran  Church  in  the  pious  colony  of 
New  Netherlands." 


WOMAN'S   MEMORIAL    LUTHERAN    CHURCH,    DENVER,    COL. 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  hi  Ai7ierica —  The  Dutch.  121 

Notwithstanding  the  implacable  and  indefatigable 
opposition  of  the  clerical  bigots  in  New  Amsterdam, 
and  to  their  infinite  chagrin  and  dismay,  the  long-suf- 
fering Lutherans  had  in  June,  1657,  the  inexpressible 
joy  of  welcoming  their  promised  pastor.  It  was  the 
i^ev.  John  Ernest  Goetwater,  who  was  the  first  Luther- 
ran  minister  to  visit  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  He 
had  been  sent  out  by  the  Lutheran  Consistory  of 
Amsterdam  to  minister  to  their  suffering  brethren  in 
the  New  Netherlands,  two  congregations  having  been 
by  this  time  organized,  one  at  New  Amsterdam 
(New  York),  and  one  at  Beverswycke  (Albany). 

The  reception  accorded  by  the  civil  and  ecclesias- 
tical authorities  to  this  servant  of  Christ,  coming  into 
this  vast  wilderness  on  the  sole  peaceful  mission  of 
dispensing  the  Gospel  to  humble  souls  whose  cry  had 
gone  across  the  sea,  was  infamous  not  to  say  inhu- 
man, and,  even  for  that  day,  without  the  shadow  ot  an 
excuse  or  extenuation.  And  it  is  strange  that  while 
every  popular  history  expatiates  on  the  wrongs  en- 
dured by  the  Quakers  and  Baptists  of  Massachusetts 
about  this  same  time,  so  little  reference  is  made  to 
the  more  cruel,  unrelenting  and  utterly  indefensible 
persecutions  inflicted  upon  the  Lutherans  on  the  Hud- 
son. This  anomaly  may  in  a  measure  be  accounted 
for  by  the  quiet  patience  with  which,  according  to  the 
spirit  of  Christianity,  they  bore  their  sufferings,  seek- 
ing redress  with  the  general  government  rather  than 
resorting-  to  reckless  agitation  or  revolution. 

An  impartial  historian,  O'Callaghan,  gives  the  fol- 
lowing account:  "Religious  excitement  now  took  the 
place   of   political.     *     *     *     The    Dutch  clergymen 


122  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

immediately  informed  the  authorities.  Dominie  Goet- 
water  was  cited  before  them  and  forbidden  to  exer- 
cise his  calling.  Messrs.  Megapolensis  and  Drisius 
demanded  that  he  should  he  sent  back  to  Holland  in 
the  same  ship  in  which  he  had  arrived.  He  was 
ordered  to  quit  the  province  accordingly.  Sickness, 
however,  prevented  his  compliance  with  this  harsh 
and  unchristian  mandate.  He  was  therefore  put  '  on 
the  limits  of  the  city,'  and  finally  forced  to  embark  for 
Holland,"  which  decree  went  into  execution  October 
16,  the  Lutherans  protesting  in  vain. 

Though  not  allowed  to  conduct  any  public  services, 
the  presence  of  a  pastor  for  several  months  among 
the  distressed  and  desolate  flock  of  Lutherans,  must 
have  in  various  ways  proved  a  blessing  to  them.  It 
is  doubtful,  as  he  was  not  allowed  to  exercise  his  call- 
ing, whether  he  could  even  baptize  their  children,  as 
the  law  required  these  to  be  presented  by  their  pa- 
rents in  the  Reformed  Church,  and  he  was  closely 
watched  with  the  suspicion  and  fear  bred  of  bigotry, 
yet  he  could  not  be  prevented  from  visiting  the  peo- 
ple at  their  homes,  holding  domestic  worship  with 
them  and  in  personal  ministrations  offering  them  the 
counsels  and  consolations  of  the  Gospel.  For  even 
this  boon  the  hearts  of  Lutheran  confessors  would 
feel  unutterably  grateful. 

Their  bitter  persecutors  were  neither  ashamed  of 
their  heartless  procedure,  nor  content  with  the  suc- 
cess of  the  efforts  they  had  instigated  to  prevent  the 
settlement  of  a  Lutheran  Pastor.  An  exulting  report 
of  it  must  be  forwarded  to  the  home  authorities.  In 
this  they  glory  in  their  shame  and  gloat  over  the  tri- 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America — The  Dutch.  123 

umph  by  which  it  was  crowned  at  the  hands  of  the 
provincial  government.  No  Lutheran  minister  should 
be  allowed  to  preach  the  faith  of  the  Reformation 
within  the  limits  of  their  jurisdiction,  nor  even  by 
his  presence  to  pollute  this  soil  sacred  to  Calvinism. 
This  report,  dated  August  6,  1657,  is  preserved  in 
Volume  III.  of  the  "  Documentary  History  of  New 
York,"  pages  103-108,  and  is  an  interesting  specimen 
of  the  malignant  spiritof  persecution.  It  is  addressed 
to  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam,  "fathers  and  brothers 
in  Christ  Jesus."  It  acknowledges  their  fatherly  care 
"and  the  trouble  taken  by  them  to  prevent  the  in- 
juries which  threaten  this  community  from  the  en- 
croachments of  heretical  spirits."  "We  being  ani- 
mated and  cheered  by  your  letters,"  it  proceeds  to 
state,  "hoped  for  the  best,  though  dreading  the  worst, 
which  even  now  has  arrived,  to  the  especial  discon- 
tent and  disapprobation  of  the  congregation  of  this 
place,  yea  of  the  whole  land,  even  of  the  English." 
"We  have  already  the  snake  in  our  bosom."They  cer- 
tainly had  not  warmed  it.  "We  demanded  also  that 
the  noble  Lord's  Regent  should  send  the  Lutheran 
minister  back  in  the  same  ship  in  which  he  arrived 
*  *  *  in  order  to  put  a  stop  to  their  work,  which 
they  seemed  disposed  to  push  forward  with  a  hard 
Lutheran  pate."  To  their  credit  be  it  recorded  these 
malign  zealots  had  some  appreciation  of  the  qualities 
of  a  Lutheran  head,  which  may  have  been  one  cause 
of  their  consternation  when  a  Lutheran  minister  set 
foot  on  Manhattan. 

The    Dutch  West    India   Company,  whatever    may 
have  been  its  previous  concessions  or  promises  to  the. 


I  24  The  Lutheraiis  in  America. 

Lutherans,  evidently  approved  of  the  expulsion  of 
Pastor  Goetwater,  and  absorbed  as  they  were  in  com- 
mercial pursuits  and  caring  little  for  the  interests  of 
religion,  they  now  declined  to  allow  them  any  other 
privileges  beyond  "permission  for  individuals  to  pray 
and  read  the  scriptures," — a  slight  improvement  on 
Romish  persecution — and  the  pastors  of  the  Reformed 
were  enjoined  to  so  modify  the  baptismal  formulary 
as  to  remove  the  greatest  grievance  complained  of  by 
the  Lutherans,  and  to  adopt  in  general  a  policy  of 
moderation  so  that  they  might  in  time  be  "gained 
over."  The  real  ground  of  hostility  to  the  Lutherans 
was  apparently  the  fact  that  they  would  not  unite 
with  the  dominant  Church,  an  objection  to  them  that 
has  possibly  not  yet  lost  its  force  in  some  communi- 
ties. Warning  was,  however,  also  given  to  these  over- 
zealous  pastors  that  "  if  their  present  course  were  per- 
sisted in,  a  separate  Church  must  be  allowed  to  the 
Lutherans." 

The  death  blow  must  have  fallen  upon  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  New  Netherlands,  one  would  suppose, 
when  their  pastor  immediately  upon  his  arrival  was 
forcibly  driven  from  the  country.  But  with  an  irre- 
pressible faith  and  that  "hard  Lutheran  pate "  they 
maintained  some  form  of  an  organization  despite  the 
severe  disabilities  and  oppressions  under  which  they 
labored.  In  November,  1660,  we  read  that  "the 
Lutherans  were  promoting  a  subscription  for  a  cler- 
gyman of  their  own."  A  petition  addressed  to  Gov- 
ernor Colden,  in  1763,  affirms  that  at  the  time  New 
Amsterdam  passed  under  English  control,  in  1664, 
•"the  Lutheran  congregation  was  in  organized  exist- 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America — The  Dutch,  i  25 

ence  and  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  the  terms  of  the 
compact  made," — a  claim  which  was  admitted  by  the 
Colonial  authorities.  They  based  upon  this  their 
right  to  a  charter  and  perfect  toleration,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  terms  of  capitulation  made  by  the 
English  with  the  Dutch  governor,  whereby  all  their 
religious  privileges  were  guaranteed  to  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  province. 

The  Directors  of  the  West  India  Company,  real- 
izing that  the  oppressive  measures  which  had  been 
employed  were  proving  detrimental  to  the  prosperity 
of  the  colony,  resolved  in  April,  1663,  on  pursuing  a 
more  liberal  and  Christian  policy.  They  adminis- 
tered a  severe  rebuke  to  Stuyvesant  for  the  violence 
which  had  been  offered  to  the  consciences  and  rights 
of  subjects  in  his  colony  and  put  an  end  once  for  all 
to  persecution  in  New  Netherland.  About  a  year 
after  the  arrival  of  this  decree,  a  British  fleet  appeared 
before  New  Amsterdam  and  the  rule  of  the  doughty 
Knickerbocker  himself,  as  well  as  of  persecution, 
came  to  a  sudden  termination. 

It  is  the  judgment  of  Dr.  W.  M.  Reynolds  that  the 
Lutherans  proceeded  with  the  erection  of  a  house  of 
worship  in  1663,  immediately  upon  learning  of  the 
changed  policy  of  the  Directors,  but  Dr.  B.  M. 
Schmucker  says  :  "  The  first  proof  I  have  found  of  any 
action  connected  with  the  erection  of  the  first  church 
is  in  June,  1671,  when  certain  dissatisfied  members 
were  compelled  to  pay  subscriptions  made  for  that 
purpose."  These  subscriptions,  it  is  more  than  likely 
had  been  made  some  years  previous,  the  protracted 
delay  quite  naturally  giving  rise  to  dissatisfaction. 


126  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

Whenever  it  was  built,  this  first  church  stood,  for 
some  reason,  "on  ground  without  the  gate  of  the  city  " 
and,  of  a  piece  with  the  singular  succession  of  adver- 
sities which  so  long-  harrassed  and  tried  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  New  York  city,  there  came  subsequently, 
during  the  brief  restoration  of  the  power  of  Holland, 
1673-74,  an  order  from  Governor  Colve  that  it  must 
be  torn  down.  The  pretext  offered  for  this  destruc- 
tion was  that  this  building  along  with  some  others 
outside  the  wall  interfered  with  the  necessary  de- 
fences of  the  place,  and  this  plea  would,  perhaps,  not 
be  disputed,  but  for  the  inflexible  hostility  which  the 
Reformed  colonists  had  for  half  a  century  borne  to 
their  Lutheran  brethren.  The  property  so  destroyed 
was  to  be  valued  by  impartial  persons,  lots  of  equal 
value  within  the  city  were  to  be  conveyed  to  the 
owners,  and  reimbursement  allowed  for  the  loss  of 
buildines.  Of  the  exact  location  of  this  first  church 
no  evidence  is  to  be  found. 

Soon  after  the  whole  colony  had  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  English  government,  application  was 
made  by  the  Lutherans  to  Colonel  Nicholls,  the  gov- 
ernor, for  permission  to  call  a  minister  of  their  Con- 
fession from  Europe,  which  application  was  promptly 
granted  "  by  an  act  under  his  hand  and  seal."  The 
successor  of  Nicholls,  Lord  Lovelace,  made  subse- 
quently public  proclamation  that  James,  the  Duke  of 
York,  had  communicated  to  him  by  letter  his  pleas- 
ure that  the  Lutherans  should  be  tolerated,  but  added 
also  "as  long  as  his  Royal  Highness  shall  not  order 
otherwise." 

For    some    reason,   unknown    to    us,    a    number  of 


The  Earliest  Lutheraiis  in  America — The  Dutch.  127 

Dutch  Lutherans  saw  fit  to  withdraw  from  Manhat- 
tan Island,  shortly  after  it  passed  under  the  govern- 
ment of  the  British,  and  they  formed  a  settlement  on 
James  Island,  southwest  of  the  Ashley  River,  in  South 
Carolina.  They  were  at  that  time  the  only  adherents 
of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  the  Carolinas.  Their  in- 
dustry is  said  to  have  triumphed  over  incredible  hard- 
ships, but  of  their  spiritual  progress  nothing  is  known 
beyond  their  sturdy  protest  against  the  impious  and 
impudent  bigotry,  which  in  1704,  established  the 
Church  of  England  in  the  two  Carolinas  and  provided 
for  its  support  from  the  public  treasury.  The  shame- 
less injustice  of  such  legislation,  when  the  Episco- 
palians had  but  a  single  church  in  the  province,  while 
the  "  Dissenters  "  had  three  in  Charleston  and  one  in 
the  country,  was  resented  by  the  people  of  other 
creeds,  and  they  made  common  cause  in  endeavoring 
to  obtain  its  repeal,  the  Lutherans  bravely  uniting  in 
transmitting  a  statement  of  their  grievances  to  the 
Lords-proprietors. 

The  Lutherans  of  New  York,  having  obtained  from 
the  newly  established  English  authorities  permission 
to  call  a  preacher  of  their  faith,  they  forwarded 
their  petition  to  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam — the  Dutch 
being  still  the  dominant  party  in  the  congregation, 
though  Lutherans  from  other  countries  had  in  the 
meantime  united  with  it, — but  four  long  and  gloomy 
years  were  yet  to  pass  by  before  their  earnest  en- 
treaties for  a  shepherd  were  granted. 

And  when,  at  last,  in  1 668,  more  than  forty  years  after 
the  first  Lutherans  had  settled  in  New  York,  and  ten 
years  after  the  banishment  of  Rev.  Goetwater,  they 


12! 


The   Lutherans   in  America. 


were  to  see  their  petitions  granted  and  their  hopes- 
realized,  they  alas  !  found  the  fruit  of  all  their  efforts 
to    be    like  the   apples    of   Sodom,    a    most  grievous. 


disappointment.  A  more  unhappy  selection  could 
scarcely  have  been  made  for  them.  The  Lutheran 
Consistory  must  have  been  ignorant  not;  only  of  the.: 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America — The  Dutch.  129 

peculiar  requirements  of  the  situation  in  this  New 
World,  but  they  must  have  been  totally  unacquainted 
with  the  character  of  the  man  whom  they  commis- 
sioned. It  would  have  been  a  sad  day  for  the  the 
early  Christian  Church,  if  the  congregation  at  An- 
tioch  had  made  a  similar  mistake  when  they  sent 
forth  Barnabas  and  Saul  on  the  mission  to  the  Gen- 
tiles. The  man's  name  was  Jacob  Fabricius.  He  was 
a  sorry  excuse  for  the  spiritual  head  of  a  congrega- 
tion that  had  languished  so  long  without  pastoral 
oversight,  and  had  suffered  so  much  from  adversity 
and  persecution.  He  proved  to  be  utterly  unadapted 
to  the  position. 

He  had  received  university  training  and  was  a  man 
of  uncommon  talents  and  eloquent  as  a  preacher. 
But  he  was  of  a  haughty  and  violent  temper,  had 
neither  tact  nor  prudence,  and,  saddest  of  all,  was  a 
victim  of  intemperance. 

At  Albany,  where,  as  well  as  in  New  York,  Governor 
Lovelace  had  given  him  permission  to  exercise  his 
office,  he  became  seriously  involved  with  the  civil 
authorities  and  also  with  his  congregation.  Refus- 
ing to  sanction  civil  marriage,  which  was  at  that  time 
the  law  of  the  province,  he  proceded,  whether  from 
conscience  or  from  covetousness,  to  impose  a  fine  of 
one  thousand  rix  dollars  upon  one  of  his  members 
whose  marriage  had  been  solemnized  by  a  civil  offi- 
cial. The  party  complaining  to  the  governor,  the 
latter  suspended  the  arbitrary  preacher  from  his  func- 
tions in  Albany  for  one  year,  allowing  him  still  to 
continue   his   ministrations   in    New  York,  though    in 


130  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

the  course  of  another  year  he  was  there  also  author- 
ized to  preach  his  farewell  sermon. 

The  work  of  erecting  a  church  building  in  the  latter 
place,  which  had  been  inaugurated  prior  to  his  com- 
ing, received  at  first,  naturally,  quite  an  impetus  from 
his  presence,  but  he  soon  became  an  element  of  dis- 
cord in  the  congr elation  and  his  offensive,  domineer- 
ing,  behavior  threw  everything  into  confusion.  The 
people  became  so  much  dissatisfied  that  they  not 
only  refused  to  contribute  to  his  support  but  they  even 
declined  to  pay  their  subscriptions  to  the  building  of 
the  church.  The  civil  authorities  had  to  be  invoked 
and  it  was  ordered  by  the  magistrates,  that  the  sub- 
scriptions made  for  the  church  building  and  those  for 
the  salary  of  the  pastor  should  be  paid  "up  to  the 
time  of  their  late  public  disagreement."  Compliance 
with  this  order  was  of  course  inevitable,  but  shortly 
afterward  certain  members  of  the  church,  doubtless 
its  trustees  or  office  bearers,  petitioned  the  governor 
to  have  their  accounts  settled,  adding  that  they  wished 
to  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  the  pastor  Fabricius. 
His  brief  and  most  unfortunate  pastorate  came  to  an 
abrupt   close  on   August  11,  1671. 

Surely  God  must  have  watched  over  this  strait- 
ened and  struggling  little  band  holding  to  the  faith  of 
the  Augsburg  Confession,  or  the  infant  would  cer- 
tainly have  been  strangled  in  its  cradle.  Cast  down 
but  not  in  despair  the  congregation  proceeded  to  peti- 
tion for  a  new  pastor,  and  to  their  heartfelt  joy  they 
were  in  a  short  period  permitted  to  greet  him  wel- 
come. His  name  was  Rev.  Bernardus  Antonius  Aren- 
sius.     He  is  described  as  "a  gentle  personage,  and  of 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Dictch.  1 3 1 

a  very  agreeable  behavior,"  the  exact  reverse  of  his 
predecessor.  It  is  not  known  by  whose  authority  he 
was  sent  across,  nor  is  the  date  of  his  arrival  settled, 
but  as  the  same  order  of  Governor  Lovelace  which 
granted  permission  to  Fabricius  to  preach  his  fare- 
well sermon  empowered  him  also  "to  instal  the  new- 
come  minister,  according  to  the  custom  used  by  those 
of  their  religion,"  he  must  presumably  have  arrived 
shortly  before  that  date. 

He  served  the  congregation  at  Albany  as  well  as 
the  one  in  New  York.  But  his  career  was  of  that 
peaceable,  noiseless  tenor  which  seldom  attracts  the 
attention  of  the  historian,  and  hence  but  few  notices 
of  this  servant  of  God  appear  in  the  contemporary 
records.  Governor  Dongan's  report  of  the  state  of 
the  province,  April  13,  1687,  mentions  a  Dutch  Luth- 
eran among  the  ministers  then  living  in  New  York, 
and  the  editor  of  the  Historical  Documents,  III., 
page  41 5,  speaks  in  a  note  of  Rev.  Bernardus  Arsenius 
who  "succeeded  Dominie  Fabricius  and  was  minister 
of  the  Church  in  1688." 

What  the  membership  of  his  two  congregations 
numbered  is  nowhere  reported,  but  from  a  letter  dated 
September  28,  171 5,  and  written  by  one  of  his  succes- 
sors, Rev.  Justus  Falckner,  we  learn  that  at  that  time 
four  small  congregations  existed  in  the  province  of 
New  York,  "  and  all  these  four  consist  in  all  of  about 
one  hundred  constant  communicants,  besides  strano-ers 
going  and  coming  in  the  city  of  New  York."  The 
second  church  was  erected  in  1684,  on  the  corner  of 
Broadway  and  Rector  Street,  on  the  lot  which  had 
been  allotted  for  this  purpose  by  Governor  Colve,  in 


1^2  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

lieu  of  the  one  on  which  the  first  Church  had  stood 
without  the  wall. 

How  Ions-  Pastor  Arensius  continued  to  live  and 
minister  to  these  congregations  has  not,  up  to  this 
time,  been  ascertained,  but  as  there  is  no  trace  of  the 
presence  of  any  other  Lutheran  minister  in  the  prov- 
ince prior  to  the  year  1700,  it  is  probable  that  he 
continued  until  about  the  close  of  the  century.  He 
was  succeded  for  a  short  period  by  the  Rev.  Andrew 
Rudman,  Provost  of  the  Swedish  Churches  on  the 
Delaware,  but  this  calls  our  attention  to  a  settle- 
ment of  Lutherans  in  another  section,  who  came  from 
a  different  country,  and  whose  early  history  is  irradi- 
ated with  brighter  scenes  than  those  through  which 
the  devoted  band  in  New  York  was  called  to  pass. 


GUSTAVVS    ADOLPHU§. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    EARLIEST    LUTHERANS    IN    AMERICA THE    SWEDES. 

IN  the  seventeenth  century  the  eyes  of  all  Europe 
were  fixed  upon  this  continent.  Its  rulers,  in 
particular,  cast  longing  glances  toward  these 
shores  as  offering  extraordinary  openings  for  colonial 
enterprise  and  commercial  interests.  None  of  them 
had  a  clearer  and  fuller  appreciation  of  this  prospect 
than  the  illustrious  hero  and  martyr  of  Lutheranism, 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  King  of  Sweden,  whose  hardy 
and  adventurous  kinsmen  were  the  first  to  discover 
America  five  hundred  years  in  advance  of  the  Spanish 
and  English  navigators,  and  whose  subjects  could  still 
rove  the  seas.  The  intuitions  of  his  far-seeing-  and 
comprehensive  genius,  one  of  the  foremost  of  his  time, 
were  quick  to  recognize  the  advantages  offered  here 
by  climate,  soil  and*other  natural  resources  for  the  es- 
tablishment of  colonies,  and  promptly  devised  and 
developed  a  scheme,  which  contemplated  an  extensive 
emigration  from  the  different  countries  of  Europe. 

The  primary  consideration  which  moved  the  royal 
heart  to  this  broad  and  bold  undertaking,  was  the 
planting  of  the  Christian  religion  among  the  wild  in- 
habitants of  the  country.  While  it  was  proposed,  as 
with  prophetic  eye,  to  provide  an  asylum  for  the  de- 
fenseless of  every  land,  and  particularly  to  promote 
the  common  interests  of  the  Protestant  world  ;  while 
the  commercial  interests  of  his  subjects  and  the  exten- 
sion of  his  power  were  elements  inherent  in  the  pur- 

133 


134  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

pose  of  the  king,  the  movement  was  inspired  by  Chris- 
tian zeal  and  Christian  humanity. 

Preparations  on  a  wide  scale  for  carrying  out  this 
project  were  at  once  set  on  foot.  All  classes — the 
royal  family,  the  nobles,  the  military  chieftains,  the 
clergy,  and  the  people  generally,  caught  the  enthu- 
siasm. The  Estates  in  the  year  1627  gave  their  ap- 
proval to  the  measure;  and  perfected  its  plans ;  an 
admiral  with  a  number  of  officials  and  a  body  of 
soldiers  was  charged  with  the  execution  of  the  enter- 
prise. 

Just  at  this  juncture  the  genius  and  devotion  of 
Gustavus  were  imperatively  demanded  on  another 
stage.  The  very  life  of  that  Protestantism,  which  was 
so  dear  to  his  heart,  was  in  danger  on  the  continent, 
and  the  peaceful  purpose  of  Christianizing  America 
had  to  be  suspended,  in  order  to  save  evangelical 
Christianity  in  its  home.  The  Thirty  Years'  War  was 
raging,  and  the  great  Lutheran  King,  constrained  by 
sympathy  for  his  suffering  brethren  and  zeal  for  the 
faith  of  Luther,  carried  his  legions  across  the  Baltic, 
stayed  the  tide  of  Catholic  victory,  and  by  pouring 
out  his  life's  blood  on  the  field  of  Liitzen  in  1632  be- 
came the  savior  of  Germany,  and  preserved  the  fruits 
of  the  Reformation  to  posterity. 

The  American  project  had  taken  such  hold  ol  the 
Swedes,  that  although  the  original  undertaking  had  to 
be  foregone,  it  was  one  of  those  conceptions  which  do 
not  die  with  their  author.  In  fact,  amid  the  fury  and 
storm  of  the  terrible  war  in  which  he  was  engaged,  the 
king,  himself,  never  abandoned  or  forgot  his  purpose. 
Only  a  few  days  before  that  glorious  victory  at  Lutzen 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Szvedes.    1 35 

« 

he  recommended  to  the  people  of  Germany  the  colo- 
nial project,  which  he  still  regarded  as  "  the  jewel  of 
his  kingdom."  His  enlightened  and  famous  Chancel- 
lor  Oxenstiern,  who  ruled  the  country  during  the 
minority  of  Queen  Christina,  keenly  appreciated  the 
wisdom  of  the  kings  original  design,  and  earnestly  set 
to  work  to  prosecute  the  measure  for  a  colony,  "with 
the  intelligence  of  a  statesman  and  the  zeal  of  a 
Christian." 

A  ship  of  war  and  another  smaller  vessel,  laden 
with  people,  with  provisions,  with  merchandise  for 
traffic  with  the  Indians,  and  with  manuals  of  devotion 
and  instruction  in  their  holy  faith,  set  sail  in 
August,  1637,  to  found  a  New  Sweden  on  the  banks 
of  the  Delaware.  The  Rev.  Reorus  Torkillus  accom- 
panied the  colony  as  pastor.  They  landed  early  in  1638, 
near  Cape  Henlopen,  in  the  neighborhood  of  what  is 
now  Lewes,  in  the  State  of  Delaware. 

Land  was  immediately  purchased  from  the  Indians, 
who  were  regarded  as  the  proper  owners  and  posses- 
sors of  the  country,  and  one  of  the  first  houses  erected 
after  the  fort  was  the  church,  which  was  inclosed  by  the 
same  walls,  both  church  and  fort  being  rude  structures 
and  very  properly  combined  into  one  fortress,  a  place 
of  defense  against  both  the  foes  of  the  body  and  those 
of  the  soul.  This  was  the  first  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church  erected  on  this  continent.  The  fort  was 
called  Christina,  after  the  virgin  Queen,  who  reigned 
at  the  time  over  Sweden.  The  land  occupied  lay  on 
the  western  side  of  the  river,  extending  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Delaware  Bay  to  the  Falls  of  Trenton,  and  "was 
ceded  to  the  Swedish   crown  forever."     Later,  by  pur- 


136  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

chase  and  by  treaty,  the  boundaries  of  this  tract  were 
expanded  westward  to  the  great  Falls  of  the  Susque- 
hanna, near  York  Haven,  so  that  they  embraced  the 
present  State  of  Delaware  and  a  large  portion  of 
Southeastern  Pennsylvania.  A  formal  deed  was  drawn 
up  and  signed  by  the  hands  and  marks  of  the  natives. 
It  was  written  in  Dutch,  because  no  Swede  was  yet 
able  to  interpret  the  language  of  the  heathen. 

Thus,  nearly  fifty  years  before  the  historic  treaty  made 
by  William  Penn  with  the  Indians  under  the  Shaka- 
maxon  elm,  the  Swedish  Lutherans  had  made  honora- 
ble purchase  of  their  lands  from  "  the  lords  of  the 
country,"  and  it  is  making  a  modest  but  just  claim  to 
maintain  that  the  friendly  attitude  of  the  savages 
toward  William  Penn,  was  in  great  measure  due  to  the 
Christian  labors  and  exemplary  lives  of  pious  Luth- 
erans, who  for  nearly  half  a  century  previous  had  been 
teaching  and  practicing  among  them  the  righteous 
principles  and  the  brotherly  love  of  the  Gospel, 
in  close  proximity  to  the  very  spot  laid  out  by 
Penn  for  his  right-angled  city.  A  strong  bond  of 
sympathy  had  been  formed  at  an  early  day  between 
the  Swedes  and  the  Indians,  and  these  cordial  rela- 
tions which  were  never  interrupted,  proved  very 
effectual  in  subduing  the  passions  and  conciliating 
the  feelings  of  the  savages.  Thus  to  the  Lutheran 
Church  "  belonged  the  part  of  pioneer  in  the  manage- 
ment of  a  treaty  which,  for  its  purity  and  integrity  has, 
above  all  others,  a  world-wide  and  everlasting  fame." 

Finding  the  Dutch  laying  claim  to  all  the  land  be- 
tween the  Delaware  and  their  city  of  New  Amsterdam, 
the  Swedes  confined  their  settlement  to  the  west  side 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America — The  Swedes.  137 

of  the  river.  The  Dutch,  evidently  afraid  of  being 
crowded,  raised  objections  even  to  their  occupancy  of 
the  west  bank.  These  greedy  Hollanders,  who  had 
never  purchased  a  square  yard  of  the  land,  and  who 
bore  no  special  love  for  Lutherans,  claimed  the  whole 
river,  claimed  pretty  much  everything,  and  they  made 
a  wordy  protest  against  "the  Swedes  building  forts 
upon  our  rivers  and  coasts  and  settling  people  on  the 
land,"  threatening  to  protect  their  rights  "in  such 
manner  as  we  may  find  most  advisable."  In  those 
days  it  has  been  expressively  observed  "  the  times 
gave  him  the  best  right  who  had  the  most  strength." 

A  second  company  of  emigrants  from  Sweden  with 
Lieut.  Col.  John  Printz,  under  appointment  as  Gover- 
nor of  New  Sweden,  and  Magister  John  Campanius 
(Holm)  as  Government  Chaplain  and  pastor  of  the 
congregation,  came  over  in  1642.  Three  vessels  con- 
veyed the  heroic  and  devout  band,  and  it  required  six 
months  to  make  the  voyage.  These  were  shortly  suc- 
ceeded by  other  ships  carrying  additional  people  and 
valuable  freight,  each  new  company  of  emigrants 
bringing  additional  clergymen.  The  colony  soon  en- 
joyed a  high  degree  of  prosperity.  The  banks  of  the 
Delaware  were  dotted  with  pleasant  hamlets.  The 
people  were  happy,  intelligent  and  virtuous.  They 
were  animated  by  the  spirit  of  their  holy  religion,  not 
by  the  spirit  of  adventure  or  the  lust  for  gain. 

The  planting  of  the  Christian  Church  was,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  first  object  contemplated  by  Gustavus 
Adolphus.  How  prominent  the  religious  interest  and 
consideration  for  the  heathen  continued  in  the  coun- 
sels of  those  who  ultimately  carried  his  project  into 


138  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

execution,  may  be  seen  in  the  instructions  given  by 
the  Swedish  Council  of  State  to  Governor  Printz  : 

"The  wild  nations  the  Governor  shall  understand 
how  to  treat  with  all  humanity  and  respect,  that  no 
violence  or  wrong  be  done  to  them  by  her  Royal 
Majesty  or  her  subjects  ;  but  he  shall  rather,  at  every 
opportunity,  exert  himself,  that  the  same  wild  people 
may  gradually  be  instructed  in  the  truths  and  worship 
of  the  Christian  religion,  and  in  other  ways  brought 
to  civilization  and  good  government,  and  in  this  man- 
ner properly  guided." 

That  the  Swedish  statesmen  and  the  colonists 
whom  they  sent  to  these  shores,  were  not  wholly  in- 
sensible to  motives  of  worldly  policy,  is  seen  from  the 
charge  given  the  latter  to  "allow  the  wild  people  to  ob- 
tain such  things  as  they  need  at  a  price  somewhat  more 
moderate  than  they  are  getting  them  of  the  Hollanders 
at  Fort  Nassau,  or  the  adjacent  English,  so  that  said 
wild  people  may  be  withdrawn  from  them,  and  be  so 
much  the  more  won  to  our  people." 

"Above  all  things,"  says  section  26  of  the  Council's 
instruction,  "  shall  the  Governor  consider  and  see  to 
it  that  a  true  and  due  worship,  becoming  honor,  laud 
and  praise  be  paid  to  the  Most  High  God  in  all 
things,  and  to  that  end  all  proper  care  shall  be 
taken  that  divine  service  be  zealously  performed  ac- 
cording to  the  Unaltered  Auesbure  Confession,  the 
Council  of  Upsala  and  the  ceremonies  of  the  Swedish 
Church,  and  all  persons,  but  especially  the  young, 
shall  be  duly  instructed  in  the  articles  of  the  Christian 
faith  ;  and  all  good  Church  discipline  shall,  in  like 
manner,  be  duly  exercised  and  received." 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Swedes.  139 

The  famous  compact  drawn  up  in  the  "Mayflower" 
may  have  "borne  the  germs  of  the  republican  institu- 
tions of  the  United  States,"  but  as  a  charter  of  relig- 
ious principles  it  admits  of  no  comparison  with  this. 
That  contemplated  a  state,  as  in  fact  those  Puritans 
were  political  agitators  quite  as  much  as  they  were 
religious  zealots.  Here  is  a  body  of  Lutherans  per- 
fectly content  with  the  civil  power  to  which  they  were 
subject,  but  contemplating  primarily  a  missionary 
movement,  the  establishment   of  the  Church  of  God 


FIRST  LUTHERAN  CHURCH,  PHILADELPHIA.    BUILT    A.    D.,     1 669. 

among  the  heathen  by  the  colonization  among  them 
of  a  Christian  people.  And  the  Lutherans  may  hon- 
estly claim  the  glory  of  being  the  first  Protestants  to 
settle  in  the  unpruned  forests  of  America  impelled 
by  the  missionary  idea  as  the  chief  inspiring  cause. 

And  so  they  were  undoubtedly  the  first  to  advance 
here  the  principle  of  religious  tolerance.  These 
same  instructions, given  at  Stockholm,  August  15,  1642, 
declare  :  "  So  far  as  relates  to  the  Holland  colonists  that 


140  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

live  and  settle  under  the  government  of  her  Royal 
Majesty  and  the  Swedish  crown,  the  governor  shall 
not  disturb  them  in  the  indulgence  granted  them  as 
to  the  exercise  of  the  Reformed  religion." 

This  has  a  ring  somewhat  different  from  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Dutch  Calvinists  in  New  Amsterdam, 
who,  as  noticed  in  the  previous  chapter,  a  few  years 
later,  resorted  to  fines,  whippings  and  imprisonments 
for  the  suppression  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  That 
these  liberal  instructions  were  faithfully  carried  out 
by  the  colonists  we  have  every  reason  to  believe. 

Pastor  Campanius,  who  arrived  with  the  second 
colony,  labored  not  only  with  enlightened  zeal  and 
marked  efficiency  over  the  little  congregation  with 
whose  spiritual  oversight  he  was  charged,  but  he  took 
a  deep  Christian  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  natives. 
He  maintained  "a  constant  intercourse  with  the  wild 
people,"  and  applied  himself  eagerly  to  the  mastery  of 
their  language,  for  which  his  scientific  attainments 
stood  him  in  good  stead,  in  the  hope  that  he  might 
thus  be  able  to  proclaim  in  their  own  tongue  the  won- 
derful works  of  God. 

"His  intimacy  with  the  neighboring  tribes  and  their 
several  chiefs  was  promoted  by  the  successive  gov- 
ernors of  the  colony ;  and  with  the  simplicity  and 
tenderness  of  one  who  is  dealing  with  babes,  he  un- 
folded before  them  the  great  mystery  of  the  Gospel," 
and  succeeded  by  patient  assiduity  in  making  them 
understand  many  of  its  cardinal  truths. 

If  these  missionary  efforts  of  Campanius  did  not 
precede  those  of  Eliot  in  Roxbury,  they  were  at  least 
contemporaneous  with  them,  and  Lutherans  share  the 


The  Earliest  Ltitherans  in  America —  The  Swedes.   141 

glory  of  being  among  the  first  Protestant  missionaries 
to  the  Indians.  Certainly  in  Pennsylvania  they  were 
the  first ;  and  before  any  literary  undertaking  of  the 
kind  received  attention  elsewhere,  Campanius  con- 
ceived the  difficult  task  of  translating  Luther's  Small 
Catechism  into  the  Delaware  language.  Through 
some  unaccountable  delay  in  the  printing  of  this  work 
at  Upsala,  it  did  not  appear  until  some  time  after  the 
publication,  in  1661,  of  Eliot's  translation  of  the  New 
Testament  into  the  Mohegan  dialect;  but  the  work  of 
translating  preceded  it  by  some  ten  or  fifteen  years, 
and  the  inimitable  Catechism  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
was  beyond  question  the  first  Protestant  book  to  be 
translated  into  a  heathen  tongue. 

Unhappily,  the  gathering  of  the  natives  into  the 
Christian  fold,  which  had  been  commenced  so  zeal- 
ously and  so  wisely,  was  destined  soon  to  be  checked 
by  great  trials,  and  the  little  bands  of  Lutherans  had 
to  experience  bitter  destitution  and  overwhelming 
calamities. 

The  first  minister,  Torkillus,  ended  his  life  at  Fort 
Christina  (Wilmington,  Del.),  September  7th,  1643, 
shortly  after  the  arrival  of  Pastor  Campanius.  The 
latter  departed  from  New  Sweden  in  May,  1648.  The 
Rev.  Israel  Holgh  and  the  Rev.  Peter  came  over 
some  years  later;  but  their  stay  was  evidently  brief, 
since  the  home  authorities  followed  the  unwise  policy 
of  recalling,  after  a  few  years'  service,  the  devoted 
servants  of  the  Church,  who  had  labored  here  among 
the  aborigines  as  well  as  among  the  settlers,  so  that, 
while  at  times  these  colonial  communities  enjoyed  the 
ministrations  of  two   pastors,  they  often  for  a  consid- 


142  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

erable  while  were  left  without  any.  Of  the  four 
who  succeeded  Pastor  Torkillus,  the  Rev.  Lars  Lock 
(Lockenius)  was  the  only  one  who  remained  in  the 
country  till  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1688.  For 
the  period  of  twenty-two  years  he  labored  alone 
among  these  people  scattered  through  the  wilderness, 
preaching  at  Fort  Christina  and  at  Tenacon  (Tini- 
cum),  twelve  miles  below  Philadelphia,  where  a  second 
church,  "a  handsome  wooden  building,"  had  been 
erected  shortly  after  the  arrival  of  Governor  Printz, 
who  fixed  his  residence  in  that  locality.  Of  this  pas- 
tor it  is  said  that  he  was  "certainly  an  instrument  in 
the  hands  of  God  for  sustaining  these  Swedish 
churches  for  so  long  a  time."  The  Tenacon  Church 
consecrated  in  1646,  in  what  is  now  Delaware  County, 
was  the  first  Evangelical  Lutheran  house  of  worship 
in  Pennsylvania. 

Most  unfortunately  for  the  interests  of  these  first 
Lutheran  churches  in  America,  the  encroaching  and 
more  powerful  Dutch  in  New  Amsterdam  succeeded  in 
the  conquest  of  the  colony  in  the  year  1655 — less  than 
twenty  years  after  the  first  settlement.  The  Swedish 
Governor  was  expelled  from  the  country,  the  people 
passed  under  the  control  of  the  Dutch,  much  of  their 
property  was  taken  from  them,  the  principle  men  and 
families  were  violently  removed,  intercourse  with  the 
mother  country  was  entirely  broken  off,  and  the  little 
congregations  on  the  Delaware  were  left  in  complete 
isolation.  Brineine  with  them  the  same  intolerance 
which  would  allow  no  Lutheran  worship  in  New  Am- 
sterdam, these  Dutch  conquerors  managed  to  have 
two  of  the  pastors   at  once   sent  out  of  the   country 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Swedes  143 

with  the  Swedish  garrison,  the  third  one,  Pastor 
Lock,  being  permitted  to  remain  according  to  the 
articles  of  capitulation,  but  to  the  great  disgust  of 
Dominie  Megapolensis,  the  Dutch  Reformed  pastor 
at  Manhattan. 

Not  knowing  that  their  countrymen  and  brethren 
in  the  faith  had  been  subjugated  to  a  foreign  yoke, 
a  fresh  accession  to  the  colony  came  sailing  into 
the  river  in  March,  1656,  bringing  as  usual  a  Luth- 
eran minister,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Matthias.  But  the  Hol- 
landers forbade  the  ship  which  had  on  board  a  large 
number  of  people,  to  ascend  the  river.  This  af- 
forded the  Indians,  who  were  wont  to  call  the  Swedes 
their  brothers,  an  opportunity  for  showing  their  con- 
tinued devotion  to  them,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  the  government  had  passed  into  the  hands  of 
the  conqueror.  Impelled  by  their  friendship  "the  In- 
dians united  together,  went  on  board  the  ship,  and 
in  defiance  of  the  Hollanders,  conducted  the  ship 
past  Sandhook,  or  Fort  Casimir  (now  Newcastle,  Del."), 
without  its  daring  to  fire  a  shot,  and  conveyed  it  up 
to  Christina."  What  proportion  of  the  passengers 
remained  in  this  country,  now  that  it  was  no  longer 
New  Sweden,  is  not  known,  but  for  some  reason  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Matthias  immediately  returned  to  Sweden, 
and  with  him  doubtless  went  some  others.  Perhaps 
the  Dutch  did  not  appreciate  the  solid  character  of 
these  people  who  had  come  to  swell  a  flourishing 
colony  which  was  now  under  their  rule.  They  would 
have  made  excellent  reinforcements  to  the  com- 
munity, for  it  had  been  forbidden  in   Sweden  under  a 


144  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

penalty  to  take  to  America  "any  persons  of  bad 
fame." 

After  this  no  more  ships  came  from  Sweden.  No 
word,  even,  ever  came  across  the  sea.  Communica- 
tion was  absolutely  impossible  between  these  isolated 
Lutherans  and  their  brethren  or  their  government  at 
home.  There  was  of  course  at  that  period  no  mail 
service  between  Sweden  and  America,  and  even  if 
they  could  have  written  to  England  no  one  had  any 
acquaintance  there  who  could  in  the  least  degree 
further  their  cause.  It  came  in  course  of  time  that 
these  Swedes  knew  no  more  of  their  mother  country 
than  what  they  heard  through  traditions.  A  long 
period  of  trial  and  spiritual  destitution  followed.  All 
the  outward  circumstances  of  the  people  were  un- 
favorable to  their  spiritual  growth  and  the  prosperity 
of  the  churches.  They  were  not  only  deprived  of  the 
protection  and  support  of  the  Swedish  government, 
which  in  those  days  was  of  so  much  importance  to 
religion,  but  they  had  among  other  cruel  ordeals  to 
suffer  pitiless  wrongs  from  the  haughty  wife  of  the  ex- 
governor,  who  remained  in  the  country  some  years 
after  her  husband's  expulsion,  and  who  had  so  little 
sympathy  with  her  people  and  with  their  religious 
interests  that  she  is  reported  to  have  sold,  along  with 
her  farm  at  Tenacon,  the  church  which  was  built  upon 
it.  How  the  church  was  recovered  for  them  is  not 
known,  but  it  was  certainly  used  by  them  without 
hindrance  till  1700.  The  bell,  however,  we  are  told, 
"they  had  to  buy  back  again  by  two  days'  reaping  in 
harvest  time." 

The  Dutch  authorities  gave  themselves  little  con- 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America — The  Swedes.  145 

cern  about  public  worship.  Though  in  some  respects 
they  were  very  tyrannical,  and  though  they  required 
all  the  Swedes,  who  desired  to  remain,  to  take  the 
oath  of  allegiance,  they  had  in  the  capitulation  guar- 
anteed to  the  Lutherans  the  liberty  of  "adhering  to 
their  own  Augsburg  Confession,  as  also  to  support  a 
minister  for  their  instruction."  The  Hollanders  were 
not  slow  to  intermarry  with  them,  and  as  they  erected 
no  churches  they  soon  coalesced  with  the  Lutherans 
in  church  association. 

Some  of  these  Hollanders  may,  indeed,  have  been 
Lutherans.  A  small  wooden  edifice  was  erected  at 
Tranhook  which  was,  by  nearly  two  miles,  more  con- 
venient for  the  Hollanders.  The  only  clergyman  in 
the  whole  district  was  the  Rev.  Lars  Lock,  and  his 
faithful  ministrations  were  extended  alike  to  Swedes 
and  Dutch,  to  Lutherans  and  Calvinists.  But  when  his 
faithless  wife  involved  him  through  a  second  marriage 
in  an  unseemly  scandal,  "he  drew  upon  himself  the 
severe  animadversion  of  the  presiding  Governor  and 
his  Commissary,  who  required  him  to  intermit  his  min- 
istry for  some  time.  In  the  meanwhile,  through  the 
favor  of  Stuyvesant,  the  legal  requirements  were  com- 
plied with  "and  the  Rev.  Lars  was  again  vested  with 
his  ofown." 

As  the  earnest  little  Christian  colony  had  now  been 
wrested  from  Sweden  and  cut  off  entirely  from  inter- 
course with  the  mother  country,  the  noble  purpose  of 
its  founding  would  seem  to  have  been  lamentably 
prostrated.  And  the  preservation  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  under  these  circumstances  may  well  be  set 
down  among  remarkable  providences.    Their  friendly 


146  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

relations  with  the  natives  remained  uninterrupted  and 
doubtless  they  continued  their  missionary  labors 
among  them.  A  century  later  the  Indians  still  told 
of  the  treaties  between  their  forefathers  and  the 
Swedes.  But  this  very  friendship  with  the  Indians 
brought  them  under  the  cruel  suspicion  of  the  Hol- 
landers, who  charged  them  with  secret  plottings, 
and  under  this  most  unjust  imputation  arrested  and 
transported  beyond  the  colony  some  of  the  worthiest 
men  among  them.  While  their  ships  had  enabled  the 
Dutch  to  force  the  surrender  of  their  forts,  they  seem 
to  have  constantly  dreaded  the  strength  of  the  Swedes 
who  as  late  as  1660  numbered  but  one  hundred  and 
thirty  families,  and  who  never  exceeded  the  aggre- 
gate of  one  thousand  souls. 

In  September,  1664,  the  Dutch  rule  in  America 
came,  as  was  noted  above,  to  a  sudden  and  inglorious 
close,  the  authorities  at  New  Amsterdam  without  of- 
fering any  resistance  surrendering  the  country  to  an 
English  squadron  "three  hundred  men  strong."  This 
chancre  of  crovernment,  which  at  last  broujrht  toler- 
ance  to  the  Dutch  Lutherans  on  the  Hudson,  could 
bring  no  harm  to  the  Swedes  on  the  Delaware.  It 
proved  in  various  ways  of  great  advantage  to  them. 
It  gave  them  at  least  a  better  prospect  of  communi- 
cating with  their  countrymen  at  home  through  the 
assistance  of  the  English  than  had  been  afforded  by 
their  Dutch  rulers.  In  the  terms  of  surrender  it  was 
stipulated  that  they  should  "remain  undisturbed  in 
their  religion  as  Lutherans,  and  in  the  public  serv- 
ice of  God,  as  they  particularly  insisted." 

When  the  Dutch,  nine  years  later,  reconquered  the 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America — The  Swedes.  147 

country,  the  first  article  of  the  instructions  given  to 
Peter  Alrich,  who  was  made  Commandant  over  the 
South  or  Delaware  river,  required  him  to  "uphold  the 
true  Christian  doctrine  in  accordance  with  the  de- 
crees of  the  Synod  of  Dordt,  and  admit  of  no  other 
doctrine  in  conflict  therewith."  The  Augsburg  Con- 
fession was  thus  to  be  suppressed  by  force  and  the 
Lutherans  of  New  Sweden  were  to  share  with  their 
brethren  in  New  Amsterdam  the  sufferings  and  the 
honors  of  persecution.  Fortunately  for  them  and 
for  the  future  of  this  whole  country,  the  English 
in  little  more  than  a  year  recovered  control  of 
the  Dutch  possessions  in  the  New  World,  and  the 
little  conoreeations  of  Lutherans  were  henceforth  to 
enjoy  the  solace  and  support  of  their  precious  faith 
without  molestation  from  a  hostile  government. 

Their  lot  was  indeed  distressing,  and  through  their 
isolation  from  the  Church  of  Sweden  they  were  cut 
off  from  the  source  of  spiritual  supply,  and  soon  ex- 
perienced lamentable  destitution,  deprived  as  they 
were  both  of  ministers  to  serve  at  the  altar  and  of 
manuals  of  devotion  to  nurture  their  souls  at  the 
fireside  and  illumine  their  pathway  in  the  wilderness. 
But  their  Christian  zeal  and  their  devotion  to  their 
Church  nobly  survived  their  bitter  trials.  Instead  of 
growing  cold  or  lukewarm  in  the  absence  of  pastoral 
ministrations,  they  yearned  for  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  and  made  every  possible  exertion  to  secure 
the  services  of  new  pastors,  as  their  aged  ones  were 
stricken  down  by  disease  or  death. 

In   1672  they  extended  a  call  to  Pastor  Fabricius, 
who,   some   years    before,  had    made    an    unenviable 


148  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

record  as  pastor  of  the  churches  on  the  Hudson,  and 
who  through  his  misfortunes  there  had  evidently 
become  a  wiser  and  better  man.  Although  he  again 
repeatedly  came  into  collision  with  the  authorities, 
who  on  several  occasions  suspended  him,  he  fulfilled 
a  long  career  of  usefulness  among  the  Swedish 
Lutherans.  He  preached  mostly  in  the  Dutch  lan- 
guage, but  he  so  far  mastered  the  Swedish  that  he 
could  intelligibly  hold  service  also  in  that  tongue. 
He  preached  alternately  at  Tenacon  and  at  Wicacoa, 
a  mile  below  the  southern  limits  of  Philadelphia 
where  a  block-house  was  turned  into  a  church  in 
1669.  It  was  a  wise  measure  which  more  than  once 
in  our  early  history  converted  those  structures  which 
had  been  erected  for  the  defense  of  men's  bodies  into 
fortresses  where  spiritual  weapons  could  be  employed 
for  the  salvation  of  their  souls.  The  Indians,  it  was 
possible,  might  fall  upon  the  congregation  while  at 
worship  and  capture  the  whole  flock.  The  churches 
were  accordingly  so  constructed  that  "after  a  suitable 
elevation,  like  any  other  house,  a  projection  was  made 
some  courses  higher,  out  of  which  they  could  shoot, 
so  that  if  the  heathen  fell  upon  them,  which  could  not 
be  done  without  their  coming  up  to  the  house,  then 
the  Swedes  could  shoot  down  upon  them  continually, 
and  the  heathen  who  used  only  bows  and  arrows, 
could  do  them  little  or  no  injury."  The  Swedes  have, 
however,  never  been  charged,  as  were  their  Puritan 
neighbors,  with  falling  first  on  their  knees,  then  fall- 
ing on  the  Aborigines. 

After  the   accession  of  Fabricius  an   arrangement 
was  effected   by  which   the  work  of  the  whole  district 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  hi  A?nerica —  The  Swedes.  149 

was  amicably  divided  so  that  the  Lutherans  living 
above  a  certain  point  were  placed  under  the  care  of 
Rev.  Lars  Lock,  and  those  below  this  point  remained 
under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Jakobus  Fabricius.  The 
latter  resided  at  what  is  now  Kensington  and  made 
the  trips  to  the  Wicacoa  and  Tranhook  churches  as 
also  "down  into  Maryland"  by  means  of  a  canoe. 
He  became  blind  a  few  years  after  he  had  entered 
upon  his  pastorate  here,  but  this  affliction  did  not  pre- 
vent him  from  watching  over  his  congregation  ac- 
cording to  his  ability.  His  associate,  Pastor  Lock, 
was  likewise  burdened  in  his  old  age  with  many 
troubles,  so  that  in  the  touching  phraseology  of  a 
subsequent  letter  to  Sweden  "though  there  were  two 
ministers  in  the  churches,  yet  their  infirmities  made 
them  hardly  equal  to  one." 

William  Penn  arrived  on  the  shores  of  the  Dela- 
ware October  24,  1682,  having  with  him  twenty  ships 
filled  with  people  who  were  to  settle  the  province  of 
Pennsylvania  under  him  as  proprietary  and  governor. 
Although  strenuously  opposed  to  his  coming,  since 
they  were  really  the  owners  of  the  soil,  the  Swedes 
received  the  new  comers  "with  great  friendliness,  car- 
ried up  their  goods  and  furniture  from  the  ships,  and 
entertained  them  in  their  houses  without  charge,"  show- 
ing a  Christian  hospitality  which  continued  to  be  grate- 
fully recalled  by  the  Quakers  for  a  century  later.  Penn 
was  delighted  with  them  and  appreciated  especially 
their  kind  offices  for  him  with  the  Indians.  Theyacted 
as  his  interpreters.  He  relates  that  he  found  them 
quite  as  cordial  toward  him  as  were  the  few  English- 
men who  lived  amone  them,  and   he  commends  their 


150  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

respect  for  authority  as  well  as  their  kind  behavior  to 
the  English.  "As  they  are  a  proper  people  and 
stroncr  of  body,"  he  adds,  "so  have  they  fine  children, 
and  almost  every  house  full.  And  I  must  do  them  that 
riorht — I  see  few  young  men  more  sober  and  industri- 
ous." Abundance  of  children  and  habits  of  sobriety 
and  industry — from  the  days  of  Penn  to  the  present 
hour  there  has  never  been  in  this  country  a  genera- 
tion of  Lutherans  who  did  not  meVit  and  receive  this 
encomium. 

These  thrifty  and  intelligent  people  so  won  the  es- 
teem and  friendship  of  their  new  Quaker  fellow-citi- 
zens that  they  soon  held  a  place  both  in  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Province  and  in  the  Governor's 
Council.  There  is  a  tradition  that  about  this  time 
an  impostor  came  among  them  gathering  followers 
and  creating  considerable  disturbance,  and  that  he 
would  have  brought  his  countrymen  into  evil  report 
and  suspicion  "had  not  the  honesty  of  these  people 
in  general  been  well  known  by  so  many  proofs 
before." 

But  worldly  station,  earthly  prosperity,  and  the  con- 
fidence and  orood  will  alike  of  the  natives  and  of 
Europeans,  were  no  substitute  for  the  ordinances  of 
the  sanctuary  and  the  ministrations  of  the  Gospel. 
These  were  no  means  of  grace  to  them  and  to  their 
children.     Well  might  they  have  said  : 

"  Thanks  to  thy  name  for  meaner  things, 
But  these  are  not  my  God  !  " 

Two  generations  before,  their  ancestors  had  come 
to   these  wild    shores  with   their   ministers   and   their 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America — The  Swedes.   151 

Bibles,  with  the  Church  and  the  Sacraments  and  the 
Catechism,  but  the  precious  books  could  not  last  for- 
ever nor  suffice  for  the  multiplying  population,  and 
the  ministers  had  either  been  recalled  to  Sweden, 
ended  their  labors  in  death,  or  become  disqualified 
by  age  and  infirmities  for  the  pastoral  oversight  of  the 
people.  Pastor  Lock,  after  having  been  for  years 
incapacitated  for  the  work  of  his  calling,  ended  a 
life  of  many  sorrows  in  1688,  Pastor  Fabricius  to 
whom,  while  blind  and  decrepit  he  yet  lingered  among 
them,  his  congregations  could  pay  the  tribute:  "He 
has  faithfully  and  zealously  taken  care  of  us  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  teachings  of  the  Unaltered  Augs- 
burg Confession,  in  pure  doctrine  and  exemplary  life;" 
and  of  whom  after  sixteen  years  of  labor  among  them 
they  said:  "He  is  an  admirable  preacher  but,  God's 
blessing  on  him,  he  is  so  aged,  and  has  lost  his  sight 
for  so  long  a  time  ;  yet  is  he  one  who  has  taught  us 
God's  pure  and  true  Word,  and  administered  the 
Holy  Sacraments  among  us."  This  devoted  man 
passed  away  about  the  year  1693. 

Then  followed  some  years  during  which  not  a 
single  clergyman  ministered  to  these  Lutheran  con- 
gregations. But  though  destitute  of  the  regular 
ministry  the  churches  were  not  closed.  The  people 
continued  to  assemble  in  the  place  of  prayer  on  the 
Lord's  day,  united  in  singing  the  Songs  of  Zion,  and 
listened  to  the  voice  of  some  pious  and  competent 
layman  who  read  to  them  the  Epistle  and  Gospel 
for  the  day,  offered  up  prayers  and  frequently  also 
read  a  sermon  from  Moller's  Postilla.  Thus  while 
left   like   sheep  without  a  shepherd   and   with    many 


152  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

severe  trials  of  their  faith,  these  Lutherans  on  the 
Delaware  present  touching  evidences  of  love  for  the 
Church,  devotion  to  her  ordinances  and  an  abiding 
spiritual  interest  in  her  doctrines.  They  could  accord- 
ingly not  content  themselves  without  the  regular 
dispensing  of  the  Word.  They  kept  hungering  and 
thirsting  for  the  spiritual  refreshment  of  the  preached 
gospel.  They  knew  that  Christ's  cause  must  languish 
without  the  services  of  men  appointed  to  its  over- 
sight, and  accordingly  they  left  nothing  undone  to 
open  communications  with  the  Church  in  Europe 
and  to  secure  laborers  for  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord. 

Their  earnest  efforts  in  this  behalf  met  again  and 
again  with  the  bitterest  disappointment.  No  answer 
was  received  to  their  touching  importunities,  not 
an  echo,  even,  came  back  to  them  when  they  sent 
piteous  appeals  to  Sweden  for  pastors  and  for  relig- 
ious literature.  Evidently,  with  the  sea  swarming 
with  pirates  and  the  circuitous  routes  of  transporta- 
tion in  that  day,  their  letters  depicting  the  distress  of 
their  churches  never  reached  their  destination.  Re- 
maining- firm  and  undaunted  in  their  determination 
to  obtain  pastors,  they  conceived  of  another  plan  by 
which  it  was  hoped  they  might  succeed.  Through 
the  assistance  of  New  York  merchants  who  traded 
regularly  with  Amsterdam,  they  conveyed  an  appeal 
to  the  Lutheran  Consistory  of  that  city  to  procure 
for  them  a  Swedish  clergyman,  either  one  who  might 
be  known  to  them  as  being  without  charge,  or  some 
one  from  Sweden  who  might  be  reached  through  the 
interposition  of  this  ecclesiastical  body. 

After  stating  that  their  faithful   Pastor   Fabricius, 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America — The  Swedes.  153 

"considering-  his  advanced  age,  his  blindness  and  his 
infirmities"  had  been  constrained  to  lay  down  his 
office  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  they  described 
their  "  most  deserted  condition  in  regard  to  their  holy 
religion,"  they  were  "as  chickens  without  the  hen,  as 
sheep  without  a  shepherd,  as  sick  without  a  physician, 
verily  in  the  greatest  danger."  They  urged  their 
"blessed  fellowship"  in  the  faith  with  this  Lutheran 
Consistory,  their  fervent  zeal  for  the  honor  of  God 
and  the  maintenance  of  their  Christian  faith,  and 
pleaded  for  "the  spiritual  refreshment  alike  of  the  old 
and  of  the  young  for  their  eternal  salvation."  And 
as  a  further  and  striking  evidence  of  their  estimation 
of  pastoral  ministrations,  their  letter  contained  the 
offer  of  what  must  be  considered  for  that  day  a  liberal 
support,  a  salary  of  one  hundred  rix  dollars  with  a 
house  and  glebe.  But  all  was  in  vain.  The  melan- 
choly  result  is  told  in  one  brief  but  affecting  sentence  : 
"The  people  waited,  but  no  clergyman  came." 

Equally  fruitless  were  the  kindly  and  zealous  en- 
deavors of  William  Penn,  who,  Quaker  that  he  was 
and  therefore  inimical  to  a  regular  ministry,  imme- 
diately after  his  return  from  America  applied  to  the 
Swedish  Ambassador  at  London  for  his  assistance  in 
obtaining  for  these  people,  clergymen  and  books  from 
Sweden,  assuring  him  that  he  would  take  care  to  have 
them  forwarded  from  London.  Penn  himself  is  said 
to  have  sent  them  "a  box  of  Catechisms  and  other 
books,  together  with  a  Bible  in  folio,  for  use  in  the 
church,  though  all  in  English." 

Souls  have  never  cried  in  vain  for  the  bread  of 
life.     Man's  extremity   is  God's  opportunity.     Deso- 


1 54  The  Lutherans  in  A?nerica. 

late  and  famished,  doomed  to  cruel  disappointment 
in  every  attempt  to  obtain  pastors,  they  were  to  wit- 
ness, when  all  human  help  had  failed,  the  wonderful 
intervention  of  divine  help.  No  Christian  people 
anywhere  have  so  often  and  so  vividly  experienced, 
as  the  Lutherans  in  this  country,  that  the  very  hour 
which  marks  the  deepest  distress  of  the  church  is 
wont  to  strike  the  signal  for  its  deliverance.  Human 
counsel,  wisdom  and  strength  are  brought  to  naught 
that  no  flesh  should  glory,  and  then  when  the  hearts 
of  men  are  fully  prepared  for  such  a  revelation,  they 
learn  that  "the  foolishness  of  God  is  wiser  than  men, 
and  the  weakness  of  God  is  stronger  than  men." 
There  are  in  fact  nowhere  to  be  found  brighter  in- 
stances of  a  heroic  and  all  conquering  faith  in  God 
and  of  singular  and  manifold  interventions  of  Provi- 
dence than  are  presented  in  the  successive  chapters 
of  Lutheran  history  in  this  land. 

A  Swedish  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Printz  hap- 
pened to  come  hither  on  an  English  ship.  It  was  in 
those  days  a  rare  pleasure  for  the  Swedes  to  behold 
one  of  their  countrymen,  and  they  gave  Printz  a  cor- 
dial welcome  and  soon  made  him  acquainted  with 
their  spiritual  condition.  On  returning  to  Stock- 
holm he  communicated  their  desire  to  have  ministers, 
bibles,  hymn-books  and  other  manuals  of  devotion,  to 
certain  pious  laymen  in  whom  their  spiritual  destitu- 
tion awakened  profound  sympathy  and  a  sincere  zeal 
for  the  Church  of  God.  They  succeeded  in  bringing 
the  sore  need  of  these  far  distant  Lutherans  to  the 
notice  of  the  king,  Charles  X  I.,  who  was  deeply  affected 
by  their  condition  and  at  once  gave  especial  attention 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Swedes  155 


to  their  relief,  cherishing  "a  Royal  grace  and  care  for 
their  eternal  salvation  and  welfare,  and  for  the  up- 
holding of  the  pure  and  uncorrupted  Lutheran  re- 
ligion." 

A   letter  of  inquiry  was  at   once  dispatched,  assur- 
ing them  that   as  soon   as   definite    and   circumstan- 


OLD  SWEDES'  CHURCH,  WICACOA,  (GLORIA  DEl).    DEDICATED  JULY  2,  I  70O. 

tial  information  concerning  their  spiritual  necessities 
could  be  received  from  them,  His  Majesty,  would 
most  graciously  send  them  not  only  ministers  but  also 
all  sorts  of  religious  books.  The  letter  implored 
them  to  give  information  "on  every  particular  of  their 


156  The  Lutherans   in  America. 

condition  in  the  least  as  well  as  in  the  greatest,"  and 
requested  them  to  send  back  their  response  as  speed- 
ily as  possible,  since  "this  may  lead  to  your  soul's  wel- 
fare and  salvation,"  and  it  closed  with  the  entreaty 
"  Be  not  negligent  in  the  matter  which  pertains  to 
your  eternal  welfare,  for  you  can  certainly  see  that 
the  great  God  doth  just  as  speedily  help  through 
lowly  friends  as  through  the  great." 

This  letter  was  in  due  season  received  in  America 
and  occasioned  the  greatest  joy.  It  was  looked  upon 
in  the  light  of  a  message  from  heaven,  it  was  cer- 
tainlya  messenger  of  divine  Providence.  The  response 
to  it,  we  may  feel  assured,  was  not  long  delayed.  It 
bears  the  date  of  May  31,  1693,  just  eight  days  after 
the  reception  of  the  letter  from  Sweden.  The  writ- 
ing of  it  devolved  upon  Charles  Springer,  a  Swede 
who  through  singular  personal  trials  had  found  his 
way  to  his  countrymen  in  Pennsylvania.  He  was  a  man 
of  education.  He  had  been  appointed  a  magistrate 
among  the  Swedes  at  Christina,  and  was  one  of  those 
pious  laymen  who  in  default  of  pastors  conducted 
religious  services  in  the  Lutheran  churches,  "a  God- 
fearing man,  who  spared  neither  labor  nor  expense 
for  the  establishment  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  the 
American  wilderness."  It  overflows  with  gratitude, 
rejoicing,  and  praise  to  "  the  great  God  who,  we  verily 
and  in  our  hearts  believe,  has  and  will  continue  to 
have  His  hand  in  the  completion  of  this  work  which 
has  been  begun  in  so  Christian  a  manner.  For  we 
do  not  believe  that  God  will  forsake  us,  although  we 
are  in  a  strange  and  heathen  land,  far  away  from  our 
own  dear  fatherland." 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America — The  Swedes.  157 

Complying   with    the    request    of   their    friends    in 
Sweden    for   full    details    of    their    situation,    stating- 
among    other    circumstances    that    "our   wives    and 
daughters    busy  themselves   much    in    spinning    both 
wool    and    flax,  many  also   with  weaving,  so   that  we 
have  great   reason   to   thank   Almighty   God  for  the 
support  of  our  daily  life,"  and  that  "we  live  in  great 
amity  with   the    Indians,  who  have  not   done   us  any 
harm  for  many  years,"  the  burden  of  this  communica- 
tion is  of  course   their  spiritual  situation,  their  desire 
to     "obtain    faithful   pastors    and  watchmen    for   our 
souls,  who  may  feed  us  with  that  spiritual  food  which 
is  the  preaching  of  God's  Word,  and  the  administra- 
tion  of  the  Holy  Sacraments   in   their   proper  form. 
We   therefore   beg,"  the   letter   proceeds,  "that  there 
may  be  sent  to    us  two   Swedish    ministers,  who    are 
well  learned  and  well  exercised  in  the  Holy  Scriptures* 
and  who  may  well    defend    both    themselves    and    us 
against  all   the  false   teachers    and  strange  sects  by 
whom  we  are  surrounded,  or  who  may  oppose  us  on 
account    of  our    true,  pure    and  uncorrupted    service 
to    God  and  the    Lutheran    religion,  which  we   shall 
now  confess   before  God   and  all    the  world,  so   that 
if  it  should  so  happen,  which,  however,  may  God  avert, 
we  are  ready  to  seal   this  with  our  own  blood.     We 
beg  also  that  these   ministers   may  be  such  as   live  a 
sedate  and   sober  life,  so   that  we  and   our  children, 
led  by  the  example  of  their  godly  conversation,  may 
also  lead  lives  godly  and  well  pleasing  to  God." 

It  certainly  forms  no  mean  element  in  the  glory  of 
which  Lutherans  boast,  that  their  Church  was  first 
planted  in  this  country  by  men   of  heroic  faith,  of  a 


158  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

martyr's  devotion  to  pure  doctrine,  and  of  apostolic 
zeal  for  holiness !  To  the  plea  for  ministers  was 
added  the  request  for  twelve  Bibles,  three  volumes  of 
Sermons,  forty-two  devotional  Manuals,  one  hundred 
Hand-books  and  spiritual  Meditations,  and  two  hun- 
dred Catechisms,  for  all  of  which  they  proposed  to 
"pay  and  make  satisfaction  in  all  honesty  and  up- 
rightness," engaging  even  in  the  event  that  these 
books  might  by  some  accident  be  unfortunately  lost 
on  the  way,  "even  then  honestly  to  pay  for  them." 

Of  this  letter  which  arrived  safely  and  promptly,  it 
is  said  many  copies  were  made  in  Sweden.  It  was 
circulated  from  hand  to  hand  and  drew  tears  from 
many  eyes.  The  king  personally  took  prompt  and 
active  measures  to  answer  and  even  exceed  their 
prayer,  and  displayed  in  fact  a  most  royal  and  pious 
zeal  to  assure  the  fullest  success  to  the  enterprise. 
He  called  to  his  counsels  the  Archbishop  and  other 
high  dignitaries  of  the  Church,  and  charged  them  zeal- 
ously to  exert  themselves  "to  seek  out  and  provide 
such  learned  and  godly  men  as  were  desired  by  the 
Swedish  colony  on  the  South  River  in  America,  to 
procure  faithful  laborers  for  that  vineyard  of  the 
Lord,"  promising  that  as  soon  as  the  men  were  ready, 
proper  arrangements  should  be  made  for  their  journey 
with  generous  provisions  for  their  outfit  and  travel- 
ing expenses. 

The  first  man  chosen  by  the  Consistory  was  An- 
drew Rudman,  a  candidate  for  the  degree  in  Philoso- 
phy, who  was  urged  by  the  most  pressing  reasons  to 
enter  upon  this  work,  and  who  after  some  days'  reflec- 
tion  consented.     His  academic  decree  Was   conferred 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Swedes.  159 

upon  him  before  his  departure.  Rudman,  with  ad- 
mirable considerateness  on  the  part  of  the  authorities, 
was  himself  allowed  to  make  choice  of  a  fellow-laborer 
in  his  office,  and  he  selected  Mr.  Eric  Bjork,  who  was 
well  known  to  the  Provost  of  the  Cathedral  in  Up- 
sala.  To  these  two  clergymen  a  third,  Mr.  Jonas 
Auren,  was  added  by  the  king's  command.  It  was  to 
be  his  chief  errand  to  make  a  map  of  the  country  with 
a  description  of  its  character  and  the  condition  of  its 
inhabitants;  then  to  come  home  immediately  and 
communicate  it  to  His  Majesty.  Yet  that  he  might 
accomplish  the  more  good,  he  was  also  ordained 
along  with  Mr.  Bjork  in  Upsala,  Rudman  having  pre- 
viously taken  orders. 

All  the  preparations  for  the  departure  of  the  three 
missionaries  seemed  to  have  been  completed.  They 
had  already  taken  leave  of  their  friends  and  were  about 
to  set  sail,  when  to  their  great  sorrow  it  was  discov- 
ered that  the  printer  had  failed  to  furnish  the  Indian 
Catechism,  copies  of  the  translation  of  Luther's  Small 
Catechism,  which,  as  noticed  above,  Campanius  had 
fifty  years  previously  made  into  an  Indian  tongue. 
As  the  evangelization  of  the  heathen  was  a  leading  in- 
centive  for  their  braving  the  perils  of  the  sea  and  of  the 
wilderness,  they  would  not  consent  to  sail  until  they 
were  supplied  with  these  precious  text-books  for  their 
Christian  instruction.  They  refused  to  go  abroad 
and  labor  among  their  brethren  unless  they  could  at 
the  same  time  enjoy  the  privilege  of  teaching  the  way 
of  salvation  to  the  wild  Indians,  an  example  which 
commends  itself  to-day  with  especial  emphasis  to  such 
Lutherans  as  hold  that  they  have  so  great  a  task  in 


160  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

churching  the  vast  emigrant  population,  that  they  do 
not  feel  called  upon  to  engage  in  missionary  labors 
among-  the  heathen  of  our  own  or  of  other  lands. 

At  last  the  printer's  work  was  finished  and  an  edi- 
tion of  five  hundred  Indian  Catechisms  "in  the  Amer- 
ican Virginian  language"  was  placed  on  board  along 
with  all  the  other  books  which  had  been  asked  for, 
the  king  graciously  donating  these  to  the  congrega- 
tions, with  the  assurance  that  it  gave  "especial  grati- 
fication to  His  Majesty  to  hear  of  the  well-being  of 
said  congregations,  and  of  their  zeal  and  constancy  in 
the  pure  and  evangelical  doctrine."  On  every  copy 
of  these  books,  even  on  the  Catechisms,  were  stamped 
the  king's  initials  in  gilt  letters.  The  party  sailed  for 
London,  August  4,  1696,  after  an  affecting  farewell 
from  the  king,  who  sent  his  orders  to  the  captain  of 
the  vessel  directing  him  "to  pay  these  persons  the 
kindest  attentions."  The  Secretary  of  the  Swedish 
Embassy  in  London  was  also  advised  to  forward 
them  in  their  voyage  from  that  place,  a  measure 
which  proved  to  be  by  no  means  superfluous,  for  the 
English  government  was  not  disposed  to  allow  them 
the  continuance  of  their  voyage,  but  after  consider- 
able delay  this  was  accorded  "  in  respect  for  the 
Christian  work  which  they  had  undertaken."  The 
delay  in  granting  thrs  permission  and  issuing  the 
proper  passport,  turned  out  to  be  one  of  those  kind 
providences  which  at  the  time  of  their  occurrence  ap- 
pear so  mysterious  and  so  trying  to  faith  but  turn 
out  so  happy  in  the  issue.  The  ship  in  which  they 
had  engaged  passage  and  which  left  port  without 
them,   encountered  serious   disaster   at   sea   and  with 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Swedes  161 

great  difficulty  reached  a  port  in  Portugal,  and  did 
not  reach  America  until  a  year  after  the  arrival  of 
these  missionaries  in  Pennsylvania. 

After  a  voyage  of  ten  weeks  they  landed  in  Vir- 
ginia in  April,  1697,  and  thence  proceeded  to  Mary- 
land whither  the  ship  was  bound.  "Then  after  the 
Governor  of  Maryland,  Francis  Nicholson,  Esq.,  had 
hospitably  entertained  them  for  two  weeks,  and  made 
them  a  donation  of  twenty-six  dollars  for  their  trav- 
eling expenses,  they  continued  their  journey  on  a 
yacht  to  Elk  River,  and  there  they  landed  on  Mid- 
summer's day,  (June  24).  Some  Swedes  dwelt  in  that 
place,  who  welcomed  their  countrymen  most  heartily, 
and  immediately  sent  word  to  their  brethren  in  Penn- 
sylvania, who  came  without  delay,  and  with  tears  of 
joy  conducted  their  much  longed-for  countrymen 
overland   to   their   homes. 

The  first  official  action  of  the  ministers  was  to  col- 
lect the  congregations  together  and  present  their  com- 
mission from  the  King  and  Archbishop.  This  was 
done  in  the  Church  at  Wicacoa  on  the  first  Sunday 
after  their  arrival,  and  at  Tranhook  one  week  later. 
While  ordinarily  congregations  choose  their  teachers, 
in  this  case  the  teachers  chose  their  conarea-ations. 
It  was  agreed  that  Rudman,  having  been  first  called, 
should  have  the  privilege  of  choosing  his  congregation. 
He  selected  Wicacoa  and  Mr.  Bjork  took  Tranhook. 
"Then  they  separated  with  thanksgivings,  prayers  and 
tears,  and  each  one  remained  with  his  own  flock, 
which  he  must  now  gather  up,  as  it  were,  out  of  the 
wilderness."  Of  the  Tenacon  Church  nothing  is  re- 
ported    in   this   connection,  and   of   Mr.   Auren   it    is 


162  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

simply  stated  that  he  remained  for  some  time  with 
Pastor  Rudman  "before  he  entered  upon  his  travels 
over  the  country." 

Settled  over  their  regular  flocks  the  two  pastors 
did  not  forget  the  claims  of  the  surrounding  heathen. 
They  labored  unweariedly  to  bring  these  also  to  the 
marvellous  light  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  line  of  spirit- 
ual sympathy  which  had  been  formed  by  the  enlight- 
ened activity  of  Campanius  in  the  preceding  genera- 
tion was  greatly  strengthened  by  the  labors  of  these 
earnest  missionaries. 

The  care  of  their  own  flocks  required,  of  course, 
their  assiduous  attention.  The  old  buildings  being 
found  in  a  dilapidated  condition,  one  of  their  first 
movements  was  to  agitate  the  subject  of  church  erec- 
tion. With  little  money  and  large  faith,  a  substantial 
building  was  commenced  at  Christina  in  May,  1698. 
The  ground  for  it,  "together  with  two  fathoms  of 
ground  on  the  West  and  South  sides  for  free  ingress 
and  egress,"  was  presented  by  John  Stalcop,  an  officer 
of  the  congregation.  The  edifice  was  built  of  granite, 
sixty  feet  long,  thirty  broad  and  twenty  high.  The 
wall  was  six  feet  thick  in  the  foundation,  and  three 
feet  at  the  windows  as  well  as  above  them.  Five 
large  arched  windows  admitted  the  light  and  there 
were  three  arched  doors.  Considering  the  times  and 
the  circumstances  this  was  a  magnificent  church  build- 
ing, a  monument  of  Lutheran  liberality,  zeal  and 
energy. 

There  was  great  difficulty  in  obtaining  mechanics 
and  day  laborers.  "The  cost  amounted  to  eight  hun- 
dred pounds.     When  the  accounts  were   settled,  the 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America — The  Swedes.  16 


j 


congregation  fell  in  debt  to  the  pastor  to  the  amount 
of  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  pounds,  which  he  after- 
wards donated.     Money,  it  is  remarked  was   at  that 
time  more  abundant  in   the  country  than  for  a  long 
time   since,  which   may  indeed  be  taken  as  a  strong 
proof  of  God's  providence."     One  gentleman  had  ad- 
vanced a   loan  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  pounds, 
and  had  taken  a  note  at  ten   per  cent,  interest,  which 
was  two  per  cent,   more  than  the  law  allowed  and  it 
consequently  exposed   him   to  a  penalty  of  one  hun- 
dred pounds.     He  took  the  precaution  to  get  under 
cover  and  presented  this  one  hundred  pounds  to  the 
congregation  which  thereupon  honored  him  with"the 
front  pew  in  the  church  and  also  with  a  burial  place." 
Public  thanks  were  afterwards  offered  to  God   "who 
had  moved  him  to  make  such  a  gift,"   and  happiness 
and    blessings    invoked    upon    him    and  his  children. 
These  prayers  do  not  seem  to  have  received  the  an- 
swer  sought,  for   at   a    later  day    the    man   got  into 
financial  straits  and  showed  his  true  character  "by  de- 
manding; anew  the  whole  debt  with  accrued  interest." 

The  consecration  of  the  church  was  an  occasion  of 
great  solemnity  and  overflowing  festal  joy.  Gov- 
ernor Markham  was  invited  to  be  present,  but  could 
not  attend.  A  public  dinner,  for  which  the  mem- 
bers respectively  had  furnished  "all  sorts  of  meat  and 
drink,"  was  partaken  of  by  nearly  the  whole  congrega- 
tion. "All  rejoiced  and  praised  God  for  His  gracious 
care  in  raising  up  his  Church  in  this  wild  land.  The 
same  day,  which  was  Trinity  Sunday,  was  for  a  long 
time  after  annually  celebrated  by  an  evening  service 
of  praise  and    thanksgiving.     Matins  were  held   on 


164 


The   Lutherans   in  America. 


Christmas,  Easter  and  Pentecost,  as  also  throughout 
the  summer.  Garlanded  lights  and  side  lights  were 
made  of  pine  wood,  for  use  in  the  Christmas  service. 
A  belfry  was  project- 
ed, but  never  com- 
pleted. The  bell  was 
hung  upon  a  walnut 
tree  in  the  church-yard. 
Simultaneously  with 
the  erection  of  a  church 
edifice  at  Christina  a 
similar  undertaking 
was  started  at  Wica- 
coa,  the  membership 
of  which  parish  lived 
partly  in  Philadelphia 
which  had  been 
founded  in  1682,  and 
which  Pastor  Bjork 
called  in  1697  "a clever 
little  town,"  and  partly 
in  the  various  sur 
rounding  districts, 
some  even  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Del- 
aware, and  in  many 
cases  quite  remote 
from  one  another.    Of 

the  necessi  ty  fo r  a  new  ta  Hapn,l  Weckiy._coPrrieht.  hm, b7  Harper  &  Brothe*. 
church  there  was  but  gustavus  adolphus  Swedish  Lutheran 
one  m  i  n  d,  a  n  d   four  CHURCH'  NEW  YORK- 

hundred  pounds  were    promised    by  subscriptions  for 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Swedes.  165 

commencing  the  work.  But  when  it  came  to  fixing 
the  locality  for  "a  new  Mother  Church"a terrible  con- 
troversy broke  out.  The  "settlers  below"  the  Schuyl- 
kill contended  for  a  site  at  Passayungh,  where  the 
congregation  had  bought  a  piece  of  land  for  a  par- 
sonage and  glebe.  The  "upper  settlers"  wished  to 
have  it  again  at  Wicacoa,  upon  the  same  ground 
on  which  the  old  church  stood.  A  third  party  pro- 
posed that  as  Tenakon  was  the  oldest  church  in  the 
country,  it  should  be  kept  up  as  long  as  possible,  and 
then  another  one  should  be  afterwards  erected  at  the 
same  place. 

Each  of  the  parties  became  more  determined  and 
at  the  same  time,  as  is  wont  to  be  the  case  in  church 
quarrels,  "  more  lukewarm  in  the  Christian  work."  The 
pastor  felt  himself  greatly  hindered  in  his  calling  by 
the  turbulence  of  faction,  and  became  so  distressed  in 
mind  and  so  weary  of  the  protracted  strife,  that  he 
relinquished  the  care  of  the  congregation  and  threat- 
ened to  return  at  once  to  Sweden,  though  but  a  few 
months  before  he  had  written  to  a  friend,  that  he  did 
not  "know  of  any  place  in  the  world  where  a  Christ- 
ian minister  could  live  happier  or  more  beloved  than 
here."  He  betook  himself  to  Christina  and  sought 
the  sympathy  and  good  offices  of  his  friend  and 
faithful  fellow-laborer  Bjork,  who  went  over  to  the 
assembled  congregation  and  preached  to  them  a  ser- 
mon on  "  The  Tears  of  Christ,"  with  a  direct  reference 
to  the  existing  state  of  things.  "And  as  a  part  of 
them  were  not  present  he  presently  put  his  admoni- 
tions and  reproofs  in  a  written  form,  which  was  sent 
around  to  be  read  from  house  to  house.     The  effect 


1 66  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

of  this  was  all  that  could  be  desired — the  tears  of 
Christ  ought  to  settle  every  quarrel  between  breth- 
ren. "They  all  became  humble  and  penitent  on 
account  of  their  folly,  and  bound  themselves  to 
commit  the  matter  wholly  and  entirely  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  three  ministers,  as  well  in  regard  to  the 
choice  of  the  place  as  to  the  plan  and  cost  of  the 
church  edifice ;  and  also  agreed  that  there  should  be 
a  fine  of  ten  pounds  imposed  upon  any  who  should 
find  fault  with  what  was  done  therein."  Both  parties 
also  gave  a  written  pledge  to  pay  their  old  subscrip- 
tions to  the  church  edifice,  wherever  it  should  be  lo- 
cated, and  also  "  to  send  down  their  representatives  to 
Christina  to  beg  their  pastor's  forgiveness  and  be- 
seech him  that  he  would  not  forsake  them," — an  edify- 
ing spectacle  of  the  saving  common  sense  with  which 
the  Gospel  inspires  the  minds  of  its  subjects. 

The  ministers  finally  concluded  to  build  at  Wicacoa, 
close  by  the  old  church.  Among  the  reasons  as- 
signed for  this  determination  were  that  by  the  casting 
of  lots  this  site  had  once  before  been  selected  for  this 
purpose ;  that  a  graveyard  was  already  arranged 
there;  that  the  site  commanded  a  very  fine  prospect; 
that  the  value  of  the  property  would  increase  by  its 
proximity  to  the  city,  and  that  "the  name  of  the 
Swedes  would  ever  be  held  in  remembrance,  as  their 
church  thus  stood  in  view  of  vessels  as  they  sailed 
upon  the  river."  The  difficulty  which  the  lower  set- 
tlers would  have  in  coming  over  the  Schuylkill  was  to 
be  relieved  by  a  flat-boat  which  the  congregation 
should  maintain  at  its  own  expense. 

The   quarrel  had   delayed   the  work  for  an   entire 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America — The  Swedes.  167 

year,  but  it  was  now  prosecuted  with  the  greatest  zeal, 
Pastor  Rudman  being  architect,  superintendent  and 
paymaster,  the  same  masons  and  carpenters  who  had 
been  employed  on  the  Christina  church  doing  the 
work  also  on  this  one,  the  dimensions  of  which  were 
exactly  the  same.  The  foundation  was  of  stone,  and 
the  walls  of  brick,  "  every  other  one  glazed."  In  the 
course  of  a  year  the  church  was  nearly  completed,  a 
cross-wall  at  the  west  end  being  left  intentionally  unfin- 
ished, "until  it  could  be  seen  whether  some  bells  could 
be  obtained  from  Sweden."  On  the  second  of  July, 
1700,  on  the  first  Sunday  after  Trinity,  the  building 
was  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  God,  under  the  name 
of  Gloria  Z)ei,\vith  solemn  and  imposing  services,  in  the 
presence  of  a  numerous  and  promiscuous  assembly,  a 
part  of  whom  whom  were  English  people  from  Phila- 
delphia, "on  whose  account  the  conclusion  of  the  ad- 
dress was  translated  into  English." 

The  Christian  zeal,  the  enterprise,  liberality  and 
good  taste  displayed  by  the  Lutherans  in  the  erection 
of  these  two  large,  costly  and  beautiful  churches,  com- 
manded the  admiration  of  their  English  neighbors 
far  and  wide.  "  The  fame  of  them  was  noised  abroad 
to  neighboring  provinces,"  and  confirmed  the  high 
estimate  which  had  long  been  formed  of  these  com- 
munities.  "The  English  inhabitants  having  been  in- 
terested  in  the  progress  of  the  building  both  at  Wi- 
cacoa  and  Christina,  continued  long  after  their  conse- 
cration, to  gaze  upon  them  with  wonder.  Strangers 
visiting  the  region  of  the  Delaware  walked  round 
about  their  walls  and  with  respectful  mien  were 
pleased  to  enter  their  sacred   courts.     Even  the  gov- 


1 68  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

ernors  of  Maryland  and  Virginia, — Nicholson  and 
Blackstone, — attended  by  their  respective  suites,  were 
gratified  on  the  occasion  of  seeing  with  their  own 
eyes  these  noble  monuments  of  Christian  zeal  and 
Lutheran  enterprise." 

Fully  consecrated  to  the  work  of  saving  souls,  fired 
with  a  loyal  devotion  to  the  pure  doctrines  of  grace, 
and  manifesting  continually  the  spirit  of  progress  and 
of  an  enlightened  zeal,  it  need  not  surprise  us  to  find 
that  these  earnest  and  cultured  ministers,  whose  char- 
acter and  learning  commended  them  to  the  foremost 
persons  of  the  country,  soon  found  their  work  appre- 
ciated by  the  people  of  other  nationalities.  Not  only 
Hollanders  who  had  long  interminaded  with  the 
Swedes  as  one  people  became  identified  with  their 
congregations,  but  also  many  English,  Scotch,  Irish 
and  German  families,  all  using  the  Swedish  language. 
Great  as  was  the  simplicity  of  these  primitive  Ameri- 
can Lutheran  divines  it  never  occurred  to  them  that 
they  had  been  entrusted  with  the  Gospel  for  the 
preaching  of  it  solely  to  Lutherans  and  their  children. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    EARLIEST    LUTHERANS    IN    AMERICA THE    GERMANS. 

IT  is  noteworthy  that,  while  the  Reformation  had  its 
cradle  in  Germany,  and  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church  is  popularly  regarded  as  the  Church  of 
the  Germans  and  their  descendants,  Lutherans  had 
occupied  this  country  for  several  generations  before 
any  distinct  traces  of  their  German  brethren  are  to  be 
found  here.  The  first  Lutheran  settlers  in  America  were, 
undoubtedly,  Hollanders,  and  the  first  to  be  regularly 
organized  under  the  care  of  a  pastor  were  Swedes. 
It  is  likewise  to  be  noticed  that,  while  the  Portuguese, 
Spaniards,  French,  Dutch  and  English  planted  their 
standards  and  founded  their  colonies  on  these  western 
shores,  the  governments  of  the  great  German  nation 
did  not  enter  upon  any  such  colonial  enterprises. 
The  Hanseatic  cities  might  have  furnished  the  neces- 
sary transports,  but  Germany  lay  prostrate  and  deso- 
late from  the  results  of  the  Thirty  Year's  War. 
Towns  and  villages  lay  in  ashes,  its  fairest  districts 
had  become  deserts,  and  even  where  prosperity  and 
political  power  began  once  more  to  revive,  the  re- 
morseless wars  and  aggressions  of  Louis  XIV.  quelled 
all  ambition  for  the  extension  of  territory  or  power 
and  rendered  it  impossible  for  German  princes  to  un- 
dertake any  projects  beyond  the  seas. 

Hence,  to  the  few  of  their  subjects  who  found  them- 
selves in  a  condition  to  emigrate  to  the  New  World, 

there  remained   no   alternative    but  to   seek  a  home 

169 


i  70  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

among  the  communities  which  had  been  founded  here 
by  other  nations.  Along  time  seems  to  have  elapsed 
before  much  of  a  disposition  to  leave  the  fatherland 
showed  itself.  The  emigration  mania  had  not,  at  that 
time,  seized  the  German  mind.  No  considerable 
body  of  Germans  found  their  way  to  America  until 
1683,  almost  two  hundred  years  after  its  discovery. 
Such  individuals  or  famlies  as  had  previously  come 
hither  became  dispersed  almost  imperceptibly  among 
the  Dutch,  Swedes  and  English.  They  were  sporadic 
pioneers,  who  were  followed  by  no  immediate 
re-enforcements  or  regular  accessions.  Of  a  German 
Lutheran  Church  or  pastor  we  have  no  record 
until  the  eighteenth  century.  Destined  to  be  the 
strongest  element  in  the  development  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Lutheran  Church,  they  were  the  last  in 
coming-. 

When  the  stream  of  German  emigration  began 
at  last  to  flow  in  some  force,  it  brought  not  Lutherans, 
but  Quakers,  the  fruits  of  Penn's  missionary  activity 
in  Germany  for  several  years  before  he  founded  his 
famous  colony.  Along  with  those  who  had  avowed 
the  peculiar  tenets  and  practices  of  the  Quaker  relig- 
ion prior  to  their  crossing  of  the  Atlantic,  came  a 
number  of  others  who  had  no  small  measure  of  sym- 
pathy with  them,  and  who  had  been  carried  away  by 
the  tide  of  religious  extravagance  and  fanaticism 
which  marked  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  and  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  centuries  :  Mennonites, 
Mystics,  Chiliasts,  representatives  of  the  "Awakened" 
and  of  the  "Inspired,"  Ultraists  and  Separatists  of 
every  kind.      It  was  a  motlev    Babel-host,  with   singu- 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America — The  Germans.iji 

lar  and  strong-  affinities, — malcontents  who  had  these 
features  in  common,  that,  like  the  Quakers  and  New 
England  Puritans,  they  were  hostile  to  the  dominant 
confessional  orthodoxy,  were  identified  with  the  con- 
venticles of  the  "  Awakened,"  and  repudiated  the  State 
Churches,  from  which  they,  in  turn,  suffered  cruel  per- 
secutions. Unquestionably,  a  mixture  of  these  fanat- 
ical sects  and  sectaries  formed  the  preponderating 
element  in  the  earliest  German  emigration  to  this 
country.  Some  of  them  had  been  roaming  from 
place  to  place  in  their  native  land,  and  having  learned 
that  in  the  trans-atlantic  Province  of  William  Penn  no 
one  was  molested  for  his  religious  faith,  they  hastened 
to  this  asylum  in  the  wilderness,  destined  to  be  the 
Paradise  of  all  extravagances,  and  the  fertile  nursery 
of  all  "  isms." 

Somewhat  later,  in  1734  and  1735,  these  were  fol- 
lowed by  the  Schwenkfeldians  and  Herrnhuter, 
the  Separatists,  thus,  for  some  time,  especially  in 
Pennsylvania,  outnumbering  the  adherents  of  the 
Lutheran  and  Reformed  Confessions.  But  little  trace 
of  these  is  to  be  found  until  they  had  attained  suffi- 
cient numbers  and  strength  to  call  pastors.  The  Re- 
formed had,  in  this  respect,  the  start  of  the  Lutherans, 
a  pastor,  Rev.  George  Michael  Weiss,  having  been 
sent  to  them  by  the  Palatinate  Consistorium  in  1727. 
The  first  Lutherans  who  came  from  Germany,  either 
as  individuals  or  in  bodies,  were  evidently  scattered 
over  a  wide  extent  of  territory,  and  it  is  doubtful 
whether  they  contributed  directly  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Church.  The  formation  of  congregations, 
it   is   certain,  proceeded  slowly  and  gradually,  and   in 


172  The  Liitherans  in  America. 

the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  they  were  both 
"few  and  weak." 

The  first  German  Lutheran  congregation  organ- 
ized within  the  limits  of  the  present  area  of  the  United 
States,  was,  undoubtedly,  that  of  Falckner's  Swamp 
(New  Hanover),  on  the  Manatawney,  in  Montgomery 
County,  Penn.  Its  first  pastor  was  Rev.  Justus  Falck-  . 
*  ner,  a  man  around  whose  name  clusters  more  than 
ordinary  interest.  He  belonged  to  a  family  of  clergy- 
men in  Germany,  his  grandfathers  on  both  sides  and 
his  father  being1  Lutheran  ministers,  and  he  had  him- 
self  been  educated  at  Halle,  under  Francke,  for  the 
sacred  office.  On  the  completion  of  his  studies,  he 
turned  away  from  it  with  strong  aversion,  and  in  1700 
accompanied  his  brother  to  America,  where  both  of 
them  held  a  power-of-attorney  as  land-agents  for 
William  Penn.  It  was  while  making  a  sale  of  some 
lands  to  the  Swedes  that  he  came  to  regret  his  decis- 
ion against  entering  the  ministry, — a  change  trace- 
able no  doubt  to  the  Christian  zeal  and  spiritual  in- 
fluence of  his  Swedish  brethren  in  the  faith. 

Thus  by  the  guiding  hand  of  a  gracious  Providence 
this  gifted  and  learned  man,  who  had  fled  from  his 
father's  house  to  escape  from  the  ministry  to  which 
he  had  been  consecrated  by  parents  and  friends,  now 
voluntarily  assumes  its  responsibilities,  and  devotes 
his  talents  to  the  saving  of  his  countrymen  whom  he 
found  languishing  in  spiritual  destitution.  His  name 
is  honored  as  that  of  the  first  pastor  of  the  first  Ger- 
man Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  America.  He 
was  likewise  the  first  Lutheran  minister  ordained  in 
this   country,  his   ordination    being   conducted   in   the 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Germans,  i  jt> 

Swedish  Church  at  Wicacoa,  November  24,  1703,  by 
the  three  Swedish  Pastors,  Rudman,  Bjbrk  and  Sandel, 
who,  although  they  had  unquestionably  inherited  the 
boon  of  Apostolic  succession — whatever  that  may  be 
— held  it  in  so  little  estimation,  that  they  proceeded  to 
the  ordination  of  a  man  to  the  sacred  office  without  any 
imposition  of  Episcopal  hands.  The  Archbishop  of 
Upsala  had  wisely  authorized  these  Presbyters  to  per- 
form such  ordinations  in  his  absence.  Had  the  Pres- 
byters of  the  Anglican  Church  been  similarly  empow- 
ered by  their  Bishops,  the  growth  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  colonies  would  have  made  a  showing- 
very  different  from  that  which  has  passed  into  his- 
tory. Pastor  Falckner  proved  a  zealous  and  worthy 
minister,  one  of  the  purest  and  most  efficient  of  the 
earlier  ministers  in  the  American  Lutheran  Church. 
He  went  after  a  brief  pastorate  to  New  York  where 
he  ministered  to  many  people,  and  in  1723  closed  his 
earthly  labors  with  congregations  which  he  had  or- 
ganized in  New  Jersey. 

The  settlement  known  as  Falckner's  Swamp  was 
probably  founded  before  1700.  The  date  of  the  erec- 
tion of  the  first  house  of  worship  is  unknown.  In 
1 71 9  fifty  acres  of  ground  were  donated  for  the  use 
of  church  and  school,  but  buildings  for  these  pur- 
poses may  have  been  previously  erected. 

A  considerable  tide  of  Lutheran  emigration  from 
Germany  began  to  pour  into  these  shores  early  in  the 
eighteenth  century.  Large  numbers  came  hither  in 
1 71 1,  1 71 7  and  the  years  immediately  ensuing,  and  the 
whole  period  from  1702  to  1727  was  marked  by  large 
accessions  to  the  Lutheran  population.     On  June  13, 


m 
5 

Q 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  T/te  Germans.  1 75 

1 710,  as  many  as  four  thousand  landed  in  ten  vessels 
at  New  York,  after  a  voyage  of  frightful  hardships 
from  which  several  hundred  had  perished  on  the  way. 
These  were  fugitives  from  the  Palatinate  for  whom 
the  sympathies  and  munificence  of  Queen  Anne  had 
provided  not  only  shelter,  clothing  and  food  in  Eng- 
land, but  also  free  transportation  to  the  New  World 
with  subsistence  on  the  way  and  princely  domains  for 
their  occupation.  These  Palatines  were  the  first 
Lutherans  whom  religious  persecution  drove  to  these 
shores. 

Their  history  is  one  of  tragic  interest.  Within  a 
single  generation  their  beautiful  country,  one  of  the 
fairest  and  most  fertile  regions  of  Europe,  had  been 
thrice  devastated  by  the  armies  of  Louis  XIV.,  who 
laid  claim  to  the  succession  on  behalf  of  his  brother 
the  Duke  of  Orleans.  In  these  persistent  and  ruth- 
less aggressions  of  a  foreign  and  Catholic  sovereign, 
the  country  was  overrun  by  a  barbarous  soldiery  that 
knew  no  pity  for  old  men  or  delicate  women  or  suck- 
ing children;  and  when  it  was  found  impossible  to 
hold  what  had  been  conquered  Louis  gave  command 
to  have  the  country  turned  into  a  desert.  "The 
French  commander,"  says  Macaulay,  "announced  to 
near  half  a  million  of  human  beings  that  he  granted 
them  three  days  of  grace.  Soon  the  roads  and  fields 
which  then  lay  deep  in  snow,  were  blackened  by  in- 
numerable multitudes  ot  men,  women  and  children 
flying  from  their  homes.  Many  died  of  cold  and  hun- 
ger ;  but  enough  survived  to  fill  the  streets  of  all  the 
cities  of  Europe  with  lean  and  squalid  beggars,  who 
had    once   been    thriving    farmers   and   shopkeepers. 


176  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

Meanwhile  the  work  of  destruction  be^an.  The 
flames  went  up  from  every  market  place,  every  ham- 
let, every  parish  church,  every  country  seat,  within  the 
devoted  provinces.  The  fields  where  the  corn  had 
been  sown  were  ploughed  up.  The  orchards  were 
hewn  down.  No  promise  of  a  harvest  was  left  on  the 
fertile  plains  where  had  once  been  Frankenthal.  Not 
a  vine,  not  an  almond  tree,  was  to  be  seen  on  the 
slopes  of  the  sunny  hills  round  what  had  once  been 
Heidelberg."  Mannheim,  Worms  and  Spires  met  the 
same  fate.  They  were  reduced  to  ashes.  The  very 
hospitals  and  orphanages  were  sacked.  The  provis- 
ions, the  medicines,  the  pallets  on  which  the  sick  lay, 
were  destroyed.  Protestant  worship  was  broken  up' 
and  the  churches  were  turned  over  to  Roman  Catho- 
lic priests. 

These  atrocities  and  horrors  which  extended  over 
the  whole  Rhine  region,  threw  Germany  into  frenzy 
and  called  forth  the  execration  of  Europe.  But  the 
universal  cry  for  vengeance  brought  no  relief.  A  few 
years  later  the  Duke  of  Lorges,  invading  the  country 
found  that,  after  its  two  merciless  devastations,  there 
was  still  something  left  to  destroy,  and  the  work  of 
demolition,  the  butchery  of  peaceful  citizens  and  the 
outrage  of  their  wives  and  daughters  were  once  more 
resumed.  The  treaty  of  Ryswick  (1697)  stipulated 
that  the  French  must  evacuate  the  country,  but  also 
that  the  ecclesiastical  usurpations  of  the  Catholics 
should  be  maintained  throughout  the  portion  of 
country  which  they  held.  Hence  the  Catholic  princes 
who  now  ruled  the  country  denied  the  Protestants 
the  free  exercise  of  their  relic-ion,  robbed  them  of  their 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  hi  America —  The  Germans.  177 

churches  and  through  Jesuit  intrigue,  armed  force  and 
inhuman  cruelties,  threatened  the  very  existence  of 
the  Evangelical  Churches,  Reformed  as  well  as 
Lutheran. 

Under  the  stress  of  their  misery  many  thousands  of 
the  inhabitants,  in  many  cases  entire  villages,  the  pas- 
tor and  flock,  farmer,  vine-dresser,  merchant,  me- 
chanic and  miner,  stripped  of  their  all  and  forced  by 
their  sufferings  to  snap  every  bond  that  held  them  to 
their  native  land,  fled  to  the  hospitable  shores  of 
Protestant  England.  They  were  joined  by  numbers 
from  Baden,  Wiirtemberg,  Hesse  and  the  surround- 
ing countries.  The  arrival  of  such  a  host  of  impov- 
erished refugees  created  some  alarm  and  dissatisfac- 
tion  with  the  government  which  had  quartered  them 
in  a  camp  like  an  army.  But  English  beneficence 
and  humanity  triumphed.  The  Queen  took  them 
under  her  personal  protection  and  in  course  of  time 
they  cheerfully  accepted  Her  Majesty's  munificent 
proposal  for  their  transportation  and  settlement  in 
America,  where  it  was  confidently  expected  their 
thrifty  and  peaceable  habits  would  render  them  a 
valuable  accession  to  her  colonies.  A  large  fund  col- 
lected for  them  through  private  contributions  in  Eng- 
land was  afterwards  forwarded,  and  for  this  we  may 
assume  they  found  ample  use. 

They  had  been  preceded  both  in  England  and 
America  by  some  of  their  own  countrymen,  who  had 
been  moved  to  emigrate  from  the  Rhine  countries, 
both  by  the  torn  and  wretched  condition  of  the  fath- 
erland and  by  the  alluring  prospects  which  vague 
reports  and  American     emigration  agents  held  up  be- 


i  78  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

fore  their  eyes.  A  Lutheran  minister  by  the  name  of 
Joshua  von  Kocherthal,  accompanied  by  his  family 
and  sixty-one  others,  had  under  great  difficulties  suc- 
ceeded in  making-  his  way  to  England.  They  were 
made  subjects  of  the  British  crown  and  then  shipped 
to  America,  supplied  with  mechanical  implements  and 
with  one  year's  subsistence,  while  the  Queen  do- 
nated twenty  pounds  for  the  support  of  the  pastor 
and  five  hundred  acres  of  land  "  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  a  Lutheran  minister  and  his  successors  for- 
ever." They  arrived  in  New  York  near  the  close  of 
the  year  1708  and  were  settled  on  the  West  shore  of 
the  Hudson  in  the  vicinity  of  what  is  now  Newburg, 
where  more  than  two  thousand  acres  of  land  were 
divided  between  them. 

The  peculiar  and  indescribable  trials  which  such  a 
colony  must  inevitably  experience  in  temporal  inter- 
ests, were  aggravated  in  this  case  by  religious  discord. 
When  nineteen  of  the  little  congregation  withdrew  as 
Pietists,  the  others  proposed  to  withhold  from  them 
the  relief  which  the  authorities  had  provided  for  them 
in  their  poverty,  but  when  the  Reformed  pastors  of 
New  York  had  by  an  official  investigation  ascertained 
that  this  Pietism  was  no  damnable  heresy,  the  gov- 
ernment ordered  them  to  be  also  included  among  its 
beneficiaries.  In  1709  Pastor  Kocherthal  obtained 
free  passage  to  England  in  order  that  he  might  lay 
the  distress  of  the  people  upon  the  heart  of  the 
Queen,  who  accorded  him  a  favorable  reception  and 
granted  him  substantial  aid  for  the  material  pros- 
perity of  his  people.  The  measure  of  their  religious 
prosperity  can  be  judged,  in  part  at  least,  by  the  char- 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Germans,  i  79 

acter  of  the  pastors,  who  served  them  with  more  or 
less  regularity  after  the  decease  of  Kocherthal  in 
1719.  Falckner  had  charge  of  them  for  some  time  in 
connection  with  the  Dutch  churches  at  New  York  and 
Albany.  Rev.  W.  Christopher  Berkenmeier,  a  man 
of  ability,  learning  and  excellent  character,  ministered 
to  them  between  1725  and  1732,  and  after  that,  Rev. 
Michael  Christian  Knoll  visited  them  three  times  a 
year,  receiving  as  compensation  for  this  service  thirty 
bushels  of  wheat.  Of  their  valuable  church  property 
they  were,  in  later  years,  fraudulently  dispossessed  by 
the  Episcopalians,  who  fifty  years  afterwards  suffered 
similar  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  Presbyterians. 
Upon  the  arrival  of  the  large  body  of  South  Ger- 
mans in  1710,  the  greater  portion  of  them  went  north- 
ward, where  Governor  Hunter  allotted  to  them  some 
six  thousand  acres  of  land,  which  he  had  purchased 
from  Livingston's  Manor,  a  large  tract  now  embraced 
in  Dutchess  and  Columbia  counties,  and  also  an  equal 
area  on  the  West  bank  of  the  Hudson  immediately 
opposite.  This  land,  heretofore  unimproved,  they 
were  to  hold  and  cultivate  as  tenants,  and  the  govern- 
ment expected  large  returns  from  their  thrifty  toil. 
They  soon  found  themselves  in  the  clutches  of  hard 
masters  and  their  condition  was  but  little  better  than 
the  Egyptian  slavery  of  the  Israelites.  They  were 
placed  under  overseers,  and  in  order  to  satisfy  the  in- 
ordinate selfishness  and  rapacity  of  Livingston  they 
were  subjected  to  cruel  and  most  unrighteous  extor- 
tions. These  wrongs  and  hardships  drove  them  to 
discontent  and  resistance.  They  might  as  well  have 
endured  in  their  native  land  the  swo.rd  of  the  French 


180  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

and  the  oppression  of  the  Jesuits.  Under  the  tyranny 
of  the  unprincipled  men  who  held  them  in  their 
power  no  development  or  improvement  was  possible. 
Insupportable  trials  offered  them  no  future.  The 
boasted  asylum  of  the  oppressed  became  to  them  a 
land  of  hard  bondage. 

Soldiers  were  called  out  to  reduce  them  to  measures. 
But  they  knew  to  oppose  force  with  force,  and  with 
weapons  in  their  hands  demanded  a  removal  of  their 
grievances.  From  this  time  on  they  were  treated  like 
rebels.  Wearying  of  their  wrongs  and  their  slavery, 
the  majority,  preferring  the  wilderness  inhabited  only 
by  savages  to  the  pitiless  maltreatment  of  their  Anglo- 
Saxon  oppressors,  abandoned  in  the  course  of  three 
years  the  soil  which  they  had  redeemed  from  the  wild. 
In  the  dead  of  winter  and  amid  terrible  exposure 
and  sufferings,  they  moved  farther  northward  into 
the  Schoharie  region  where  a  large  and  fertile  tract 
had  been  ceded  to  them  by  certain  Mohawk  Indians 
with  whom  they  had  held  a  conference  in  London. 
Governor  Hunter  sternly  forbade  their  removal  to 
this  section,  threatened  to  punish  them  as  rebels,  pur- 
sued them  with  threats  of  vengeance  and  attempted 
even  to  excite  against  them  the  Indians,  who  had 
given  them  a  cheering  welcome  and  who  remained 
their  constant  and  devoted  friends.  Long  ago,  they 
urged,  this  land  had  been  surrendered  by  them  to 
Queen  Anne  expressly  for  the  occupation  of  the  Ger- 
mans. When  citizens  of  Albany  sought  to  hem  them 
in  by  buying  up  the  land  around  them,  the  Indians 
quickly  sold  the  whole  of  it  to  the  Palatines  for  three 


The  Earliest  Ltttherans  in  America —  The  Germans.  181 

hundred  dollars,  and  in  other  ways,  as  far  as  in  them 
lay,  these  heathen  natives  came  to  their  relief. 

The  people  encountered  for  awhile  in  their  new  set- 
tlement difficulties  and  privations  that  beggar  descrip- 
tion. They  were  wanting  in  everything  necessary  for 
keeping  house  or  cultivating  the  soil,  clothing,  furni- 
ture, implements,  cattle.  A  number  of  them  suc- 
ceeded in  buying  jointly  an  old  gray  mare  which  had 
to  make  the  round  of  the  colony.  Salt  had  to  be 
brought  from  Schenectady,  nineteen  miles,  and  from 
the  same  point  was  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  one  of 
their  number  the  first  bushel  of  wheat.  This  bushel 
it  is  said,  brought  forth  the  following  year  the  incredi- 
ble yield  of  eighty-three  bushels.  It  is  a  type  of  the 
prosperity  which  rewarded  their  hunger,  exposure  and 
toil.  They  lived  at  peace  with  each  other  and  with 
their  wild  neighbors,  but  the  few  Reformed  Holland- 
ers, who  in  considerable  affluence  resided  here  and 
there  close  to  them,  showed  for  a  long  while  great 
contempt  for  these  poor  Lutheran  Palatines  and 
Swabians.  Although  blest  with  the  sight  and  the 
services  of  a  minister  only  once  or  twice  a  year,  they 
assembled  on  Sundays  and  edified  one  another  as 
well  as  they  could  through  God's  Word  and  the  Songs 
of  Zion.  They  were  of  course  without  any  civil  ruler. 
"Every  one  did  what  was  right  in  his  own  eyes;  they 
hunted  with  the  Indians,  they  attempted  also  to 
teach  their  wild  neighbors  the  arts  of  peace ;  the  for- 
est fell  and  yielded  its  place  to  the  waving  grain  ;  the 
busy  streams  were  employed  in  advancing  the  useful 
operations  of  the  mill ;  seven  villages,  small  but 
thrifty,  rose  beneath  their  industry  and  ministered  to 


1 82  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

their  social  enjoyment,  whilst  the  long  seasons  of 
labor  were  occasionally  relieved  by  manly  sports,  by 
innocent  and  temperate  amusements.  They  felt  se- 
cure, too  secure,  in  the  possession  of  their  ground. 
The  law  of  nature,  the  law  of  nations,  they  said,  would 
protect  them  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  territory  they 
had  redeemed  from  the  wilderness  and  improved  at 
the  cost  of  their  own  sweat  and  blood." 

Alas!  for  their  simplicity,  their  ignorance  of  the 
ways  of  the  world,  and  their  blind  confidence  in  the 
supposed  promises  and  engagements  of  the  Queen. 
The  cunning  and  greed  alike  of  the  Dutch  and  the 
English  soon  subjected  them,  both  under  the  pretense 
of  law  and  in  open  violation  of  it,  to  a  series  of  out- 
rages and  robberies  which  dismembered  this  their  sec- 
ond settlement,  and  sent  many  of  them  adrift  again 
into  a  more  distant  wilderness. 

Supposing  the  Indians  to  have  been  the  sole  posses- 
sors of  the  soil,  they  were  satisfied  with  the  convey- 
ance executed  by  the  tribe.  It  never  occurred  to 
them  that  it  was  necessary  to  obtain  patents  or  title- 
deeds  from  the  Royal  Governor  of  New  York,  and  the 
absence  of  these  proved  fatal  to  their  security  and 
their  hopes,  and  without  any  previous  intimation  of 
the  crafty  designs  of  the  rapacious  speculators  who 
dispossessed  them,  the  very  soil  which  they  had 
purchased  and  with  severe  toil  and  self-denial  had 
made  productive  and  habitable,  was  fraudulently  sold 
beneath  their  feet, 

Smarting  under  a  sense  of  great  wrongs  and  out- 
right robbery  they  at  first  threatened  resistance  by 
force  of  arms.     At   last   they  concluded   to  deputize 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Germans.  1 83 

three  of  their  number  to  carry  their  appeal  to  the 
home  government  at  London.  Arriving  there  after 
a  succession  of  most  trying  experiences  and  finding 
themselves  helpless,  without  friends  or  advisers,  they 
had  to  see  two  years  pass  by  before  they  succeeded, 
through  the  assistance  of  the  German  Lutheran  court 
preachers,  in  getting  their  cause  before  the  ministry  for 
the  colonies.  They  pleaded  that  at  least  some  indem- 
nity should  be  allowed  them.  But  all  was  in  vain. 
Their  grasping  enemies  had  anticipated  them  and 
secured  a  favorable  decision.  Their  case  was  lost. 
They  were  wantonly  deprived  of  their  property,  their 
homes,  their  all.  Avarice,  fraud,  cunning,  triumphed 
over  simplicity,  uprightness  and  honest  labor. 

Some  of  the  unfortunate  people,  yielding  to  the  in- 
evitable, contented  themselves  with  leasing  their  own 
farms  from  those  who  now  had  to  be  recognized  as 
the  lawful  proprietors,  and  remained  accordingly  in 
Schoharie.  A  large  company  set  out  further  west, 
and  as  if  fleeing  from  the  robberies  and  violence  of 
civilization  plunged  once  more  into  the  depths  of  the 
wilderness.  Led  by  an  Indian  guide  we  find  them  in 
1723  following  the  course  of  the  Susquehanna  and 
amid  terrible  ordeals  penetrating  the  heart  of  Penn- 
sylvania, going  southward  as  far  as  the  mouth 
of  the  Swatara,  a  few  miles  below  what  is  now 
Harrisburg.  From  thence  they  made  their  wax- 
by  irregular  wanderings  up  the  waters  of  that 
stream  till  they  came  to  the  Tulpehocken  region,  a 
few  miles  northeast  of  the  present  Reading  where,  in 
a  beautiful  valley,  in  fair  and  free  and  fruitful  Penn- 
sylvania, though  still   among  the   Indians,  they  found 


184  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

rest  for  their  feet.  They  were  soon  followed  by 
others  and  in  1729  they  were  joined  by  Conrad  Wei- 
ser,  whose  father  had  been  their  chief  leader  in  Scho- 
harie, and  who  himself  was  to  play  a  conspicuous  and 
honorable  part  in  the  progress  of  the  Germans  and 
the  development  of  the  Church  in  Pennsylvania — not 
to  speak  of  his  memorable  services  as  an  interpreter 
for  the  Indians  with  whom  he  had  spent  a  year  of  his 
youth  in  the  Mohawk  valley. 

The  outrages  suffered  by  the  Palatines  were  ru- 
mored abroad  and  the  tide  of  German  emiorration 
was  in  consequence  turned  away  from  New  York. 
To  this  it  is  doubtless  owing,  in  a  measure  at  least, 
that  the  Church  never  attained  in  that  state  the 
growth  and  strength  that  have  long;  marked  it  in 
Pennsylvania,  which  on  account  of  various  attractions 
remained  for  years  the  desired  haven  for  the  Ger- 
mans, who  are  ever  seeking  a  better  country. 

Of  the  large  host  that  arrived  in  New  York  in  1710 
numbers  went  directly  to  Pennsylvania,  drawn  thither 
by  the  kindness,  peaceableness  and  worldly  thrift  of 
the  Friends.  Some  of  them  "with  a  capacity  for  easy 
adaptation  to  their  new  circumstances  assumed  the 
garb,  the  manner,  and  at  length  even  the  faith  of  the 
Quakers."  A  considerable  colony  of  Palatines  set- 
tled New  Berne,  N.  C,  in  the  same  year. 

Thus  by  a  variety  of  circumstances,  personal  prefer- 
ences, disappointments,  disasters,  providential  deal- 
ings, it  happened  that  these  four  thousand  Germans, 
with  their  natural  increase,  were  scattered  broadcast 
throughout  the  land.  "They  grow  with  the  growth  of 
New  York  and   Philadelphia;  they  cultivate  the  soil 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Germans.  185 

on  the  flats  of  the  Hudson;  they  are  faithful  tenants 
in  Schoharie;  they  subdue  and  enliven  the  wilderness 
of  Pennsylvania  along  the  Tulpehocken  and  Swatara." 
To  the  establishment  of  the  Church  they  could  under 
the  circumstances  contribute  directly  but  very  little. 
Unlike  their  Swedish  brethren  they  came  without  pas- 
tors and  religious  teachers  to  watch  over  their  souls, 
they  lived  in  constant  uncertainty  and  insecurity, 
they  were  harrassed  by  pinching  poverty  and'  by  the 
continual  aggressions  of  unprincipled  men  who  had 
the  countenance  of  the  authorities.  Amid  their  perils, 
their  unsettled  state,  and  their  helplessness,  it  must 
have  been  impossible  for  them  to  erect  sanctuaries  in 
the  desert,  and  although  they  came  hither  as  the  bene- 
ficiaries of  a  munificent  and  Christian  Queen,  those 
along  the  Hudson  and  in  Schoharie  were  not  permit- 
ted for  twenty  years  to  welcome  amongst  them  a  pas- 
tor of  their  own,  or  "to  unite  in  public  worship  within 
any  enclosure  more  dignified  than  a  barn  or  a  hovel 
of  frame  work." 

There  was  here  undoubtedly  a  will,  but  no  way. 
How  could  they  build  churches  when  wandering  to 
and  fro  year  by  year  and  fighting  against  hunger  and 
wild  beasts,  against  the  oppressions  of  those  in  power 
and  the  brutalities  of  their  spoilers?  That  some  of 
these  South  Germans  did  not  remain  constant  in  their 
faith  and  either  became  indifferent  to  religious  princi- 
ple or  were  merged  into  some  of  the  sects  which  then 
already  swarmed  here,  may  be  taken  for  granted.  A 
number  of  them,  as  was  noted  above,  were  drawn  in 
Philadelphia  into  the  meeting  of  the  Quakers.  For 
the  most  part,  however,  they  were  firmly  established  in 


i  86  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

Lutheran  doctrine  and  at  heart  desirous  of  transmit- 
ting it,  pure  and  complete,  to  their  children.  Those 
who  remained  in  New  York,  where  the  Dutch  Luther- 
ans now  had  their  own  worship  unmolested,  united 
promptly  with  their  brethren  though  of  a  different 
language,  and  joined  heartily  and  actively  in  the  ef- 
forts to  build  up  the  Lutheran  Church.  Opportunity 
alone  was  wanting  for  those  who  settled  temporarily 
along  the  Hudson  and  elsewhere,  to  give  substantial 
expression  to  their  faith  and  zeal.  We  have  reason 
to  believe  that  the  devotion  of  the  closet  was  not  neg- 
lected, that  with  many,  in  default  of  public  religious 
privileges,  there  was  maintained  a  church  in  the  house 
and  the  children  were  reared  in  the  nurture  and  ad- 
monition of  the  Lord.  In  the  traditions  that  have 
been  preserved  we  see  the  young  man  thirsting  for 
God  in  the  desert,  prizing  his  Bible  above  all  worldly 
treasures,  and  drawing  solace  and  sustenance  from 
its  promises  while  suffering  cold  and  hunger  in  an 
Indian  wigwam.  And  along  side  of  this  is  the  scene 
of  the  sire  in  extreme  old  age  extolling  the  grace  of 
God  in  Christ  Jesus  and  moving  others  to  tears  by 
his  attestation  of  the  quickening  power  of  "the  old 
Evangelical  Lutheran  doctrine,"  and  the  effectual 
connection  of  the  Spirit  of  God  with  his  Holy  Word. 
We  know  also  that  Christian  friends  in  England 
had  generously  furnished  them  with  Bibles,  hymn- 
books  and  copies  of  Arndt's  "True  Christianity," — 
that  incomparable  volume  which  has  for  generations 
served  as  a  daily  chaplain  in  thousands  of  Lutheran 
homes — and  herein  they  found  the  spiritual  nourish- 
ment which  they  craved  in  their  hearts,  the  means  of 


The  Earliest  LtU her ans  in  America — The  Germans.  187 

refreshment  in  their  hours  of  rest  and  devotion. 
Along  with  these  household  ministrations  of  grace, 
the  instincts  of  Christian  consciousness  led  them  often, 
even  in  the  absence  of  preachers,  to  assemble  for  gen- 
eral edification  and  for  united  prayer  and  praise. 

Considerable  streams  of  German  Lutheran  immi- 
gration continued,  during  successive  years,  to  flow  into 
the  country.  But  the  experience  of  former  settlements 
in  the  province  of  New  York  diverted  the  main  cur- 
rent towards  Pennsylvania,  although  some  subsequent 
arrivals  again  went  northward  and  joined  themselves 
to  the  remnants  of  the  Palatine  communities.  For 
the  most  part  these  were  people  of  religious  earnest- 
ness and  of  devoted  attachment  to  the  Lutheran 
Church.  "From  the  Palatinate,  from  Wurtemberg, 
from  Darmstadt,  and  other  portions  of  Germany,  they 
came,  having  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism.  Many 
of  them  sought  and  found  a  home  in  Philadelphia  and 
vicinity,  and.  although  unable  in  their  poverty  either 
to  build  church  or  schoolhouse,  or  even  to  secure  the 
ground  for  such  an  object,  they  nevertheless  main- 
tained the  unity  of  the  faith,  and  hopefully  awaited  a 
more  prosperous  day." 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  clearly  determined 
colonies  of  Lutherans,  that  were  founded  during  the 
colonial  period  in  America,  was  that  of  the  Salzburg- 
ers,  who  were  settled  in  what  is  now  Effingham  county, 
Georgia,  just  a  year  after  the  first  English  settlement 
under  General  Oglethorpe.  They  had  been  driven 
from  their  native  land  by  remorseless  persecution. 
Their  story  touched  the  heart  of  Europe  and  it  has 
furnished  pathetic  and  tragic  material  to  the  historian 


1 88  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

and  the  poet,  who  vie  with  each  other  in  describing 
the  journey  of  their  exile  "  under  God's  free  sky,  as 
they  move  along  over  the  roads  which  his  good 
angels   have   thrown   up  for  them." 

The  evangelical  doctrines  of  the  Reformation  had 
at  an  early  period  penetrated  the  mountainous  terri- 
tory of  the  Archiepiscopal  See  of  Salzburg.  Staupitz, 
the  spiritual  father  and  noble  friend  of  Luther,  had 
there  ended  his  days.  Eminent  Lutheran  preachers 
had  zealously  proclaimed  the  Gospel  among  the  peo- 
ple, and  many  copies  of  the  German  Bible,  the  Augs- 
burg Confession  and  Luther's  Small  Catechism,  had 
made  their  way  into  the  valleys  and  cottages  of  that 
region.  The  tortures  of  religious  persecution  were 
employed  to  suppress  these  innovations.  Preachers 
were  driven  off  or  imprisoned.  One  was  beheaded. 
Yet  the  revived  faith  of  the  Gospel  continued  to  grow 
and  to  spread,  sometimes  strengthened  by  the  resist- 
ance it  encountered,  sometimes  advancing  peaceably 
while  the  barbarous  procedures  for  the  repression 
of  Lutheran  "heresy "  were  for  a  season  suspended, 
"About  the  end  of  1684,  the  Archbishop  Grandolf 
issued  an  edict,  driving  out  of  the  country  in  mid- 
winter all  Protestants  refusing  to  be  converted,  and 
requiring  fathers  and  mothers  to  leave  behind  them 
all  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age,  that  they 
might  be  brought  up  in  the  Roman  Catholic  religion." 
Several  of  his  successors  had  resort  to  less  rigorous 
measures. 

In  1727,  Leopold  Anton,  an  avaricious,  reckless, 
hardened  sensualist,  ascended  the  Archiepiscopal 
throne.     In    the   heat   of  a   drunken   fit,  he   one   day 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Germans.  1 89 

swore  that  he  would  drive  the  heretics  out  of  the  land, 
even  if  thorns  and  thistles  should  overgrow  their 
fields.  He  was  equal  to  Herod  in  keeping  his  oath. 
The  cunning  arts  of  the  Jesuits  were  first  employed 
to  ferret  out  such  as  privately  held  to  the  evangelical 
faith,  and  then  by  all  kinds  of  persuasives,  by  "every 
theatrical  art,"  it  was  sought  to  attract  them  peace- 
ably back  to  Catholicism.  The  policy  of  cunning 
passed  imperceptibly  into  one  of  violence.  Bibles 
and  other  devotional  books  were  taken  from  them 
and  the  rosary  and  scapulary  forcibly  put  in  their 
place.  Such  as  refused  them  were  treated  as  rebels, 
punished  by  fines,  dragged  about  in  irons,  and  thrown 
into  horrible  prisons,  and  many  hundreds  of  them 
forced  to  fly  from  house  and  home. 

The  Protestant  powers  of  the  empire  were  invoked 
in  their  behalf,  but  notwithstanding  their  tardy  inter- 
vention, insult,  outrage  and  violence  continued  to  be 
heaped  upon  them.  The  distress  of  their  situation  at 
last  forced  them  to  unite  in  a  compact  for  life  and 
death.  On  a  certain  Sunday  in  August,  1731,  about 
one  hundred  men,  from  every  mountain  defile,  wended 
their  way  over  rocky  paths  to  a  market  village,  where 
they  seated  themselves  around  a  table  on  which  was 
placed  a  vessel  of  salt.  "Each  man,  with  earnest 
prayer,  dipped  the  wetted  fingers  of  his  right  hand 
into  the  salt,  and  lifting  them  toward  heaven  took  a 
a  solemn  oath.  To  the  true,  Triune  God  they  swore 
never  to  desert  the  evangelical  faith,  and  then  swal- 
lowed the  salt  as  if  it  had  been  sacramental  bread." 
This  of  course  exasperated  the  Archbishop  yet  more. 
The    Lutherans  were    charged  with    conspiracy,  and 


190  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

Austrian  troops  were  brought  into  the  country  and 
quartered  upon  them.  At  the  same  time  all  the 
passes  were  guarded  and  emigration  was  made  a 
crime. 

Two  months  later  this  policy  was  reversed.  Emi- 
gration was  made  compulsory  and  that  under  circum- 
stances of  inhuman  cruelty.  All  persons  in  the  coun- 
try not  permanent  residents,  all  farmers  without 
political  rights,  and  all  day-laborers  and  house-ser- 
vants who  adhered  to  the  Augsburg  Confession  or  to 
the  doctrine  of  the  Reformed,  were  required  under 
heavy  penalties  to  leave  the  country  within  one  week. 
Such  as  were  owners  of  houses  or  land  were  allowed 
from  one  to  three  months,  at  the  end  of  which  they 
were  to  be  outlawed  and  declared  stripped  of  all  right, 
both  of  property  and  citizenship.  "Only  those  who, 
within  fifteen  days,  should  repent  of  their  errors  and 
abjure  them,  and  should  formally  return  to  the  Rom- 
ish Church  were  offered  mercy."  There  was  no  help 
against  these  atrocious  proceedings.  All  the  protests 
and  threats  of  Protestant  Europe  were  unavailing. 
From  December,  1 73 1,  to  November,  1732,  the  exiles, 
aggregating  probably  thirty  thousand  souls,  might  be 
seen  in  numerous  companies  and  at  various  inter- 
vals fleeing  from  the  land  of  their  birth,  and  wander- 
ing, many  of  them  knew  not  whither.  Though  meet- 
ing with  opposition  and  insult  wherever  they  touched 
on  Catholic  territory,  this  abuse  was  more  than 
equalled  by  the  kindness  and  sympathy  shown  them 
everywhere  by  their  Lutheran  brethren. 

"Men  came  to  honor  in  them  the  martyrs  of  the 
truth,  the  instruments  of  God  who  were  called  again 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Germans.  1 9 1 

to  awaken  a  dead  Christianity,  a  leaven  to  move  the 
sluggish  mass  of  Evangelical  Protestantism;  and  the 
more  favorable  the  reports  concerning  the  patience 
with  which  they  bore  their  fate,  the  beautiful,  quiet 
order  of  their  marches,  their  exemplary  deportment 
in  the  cities  and  in  their  quarters,  and  the  evangelical 
spirit  which  they  everywhere  displayed,  the  higher 
rose  the  common  enthusiasm  for  them,  and  the 
stronger  became  the  desire  to  provide  for  them  and 
to  do  them  good.  Their  march,  therefore,  through 
Germany,"  continues  Hagenbach,  "assumed  the  form 
of  a  triumphal  procession.  When  they  approached  a 
city,  the  clergy,  the  youth  of  the  schools,  and  repre- 
sentatives of  the  burghers  went  out  to  meet  them,  and 
in  procession  escorted  them  into  the  city  amid  songs 
and  the  rinoqner  of  bells.  Divine  service  was  cele- 
brated,  addresses  and  sermons  were  delivered  in 
honor  of  them  ;  they  were  celebrated  in  poems,  medals 
were  struck  in  their  memory,  and  feasts,  simple  but 
hearty,  were  prepared  for  them.  Men  strove  for  the 
honor  of  having  them  in  their  houses  and  entertain- 
ing them.  Each  person  wanted  one  or  more  of  the 
Salzburgers  under  his  own  roof,  and  wished  to  hear 
him  at  his  own  fireside  recount  the  wonderful  leadings 
of  God  and  the  adventures  which  he  and  his  compan- 
ions had  experienced  ;  and  then  to  what  a  height  did 
wonder  rise  when  the  host  and  his  family,  in  these 
conversations,  perceived  how  deeply  these  unlearned 
people  were  versed  in  the  Bible,  and  how  skillful  they 
were  in  the  explanation  of  doctrine,  and  in  reproof, 
and  edification." 

It  was  in  fact  their  familiarity  with  the  divine  Word 


IQ2  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

and  their  steadfast  faith  in  its  Author  that  had 
marked  them  for  the  fires  of  persecution.  And  it 
was  not  only  in  their  flight  from  the  oppressor  that 
men  saw  a  parallel  to  the  exodus  of  Israel  from  Egyp- 
tian bondage,  but  in  the  marvellous  deliverances  and 
preservations  which  the  hand  of  Jehovah  so  mani- 
festly accorded  them,  and  which  to  their  devout  im- 
ao-ination  were  as  clearly  miraculous  as  the  manna  in 
the  desert  and  the  fountain  bursting  from  the  rock. 

Various  countries  opened  their  gates  to  welcome 
these  fugitives,  but  the  greater  portion  accepted  the 
royal  invitation  of  Prussia,  whose  noble  king,  Freder- 
ick William  I.,  after  having  satisfied  himself  of  their 
agreement  in  faith  with  the  Augsburg  Confession, 
"from  royal  Christian  pity  and  heartfelt  sympathy 
extended  them  a  loving  hand  "  of  welcome  into  his 
country  in  the  day  of  their  trouble  and  banishment. 
Berlin  became  accordingly  their  general  rendezvous. 
Their  reception  was  indeed  most  friendly  and  cheer- 
ing They  were  greeted  with  acclamations  of  joy  and 
well  provided  for  both  spiritually  and  temporally. 
"The  king  met  them  at  the  Leipsic  gate,  bade  them 
be  of  good  courage,  and  gave  them  a  hearty  welcome 
as  beloved  children  of  his  country."  The  queen  enter- 
tained them  in  the  castle-garden  and  presented  them 
with  Bibles  and  money.  It  is  said  that  King  William 
was  greatly  surprised  at  the  definite  scriptural  an- 
swers he  received  when  addressing  to  them  religious 
questions.  "He  asked  a  boy  of  fourteen  years  of 
age,  who  on  account  of  his  faith  had  left  his  father 
and  mother,  how  he  could  answer  for  his  conduct. 
The  boy  said,  "He    that    loveth   father   and    mother 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Germans.  1 93 

more  than  me  is  not  worthy  of  me."  The  king  then 
asked  how  he  expected  to  get  along  without  his  pa- 
rents. The  boy  answered  promptly,  ''When  my  father 
and  mother  forsake  me,  then  the  Lord  will  take  up." 

Some  of  the  Salzburg  exiles  passed  on  to  Holland, 
some  sought  a  home  in  Sweden,  some  in  England, 
while  others  in  their  wanderings  looked  with  longing 
eyes  beyond  the  Atlantic  for  a  land  of  promise. 
There  the  Trustees  for  establishing  the  colony  of 
Georgia  "were  providing  a  home  for  the  indigent 
.population  of  Great  Britain.  The  distress  of  the 
Salzburgers  moved  this  body  to  extend  to  them  also 
a  refuge,  and  their  benevolent  consideration  pro- 
voked "  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  Christian 
knowledee  to  take  an  active  interest  in  their  removal 
to  Georgia.  They  were  provided  with  free  passage 
across  the  sea.  Parliament  voted  a  liberal  grant  to 
the  Georgia  colony  and  a  fund  of  several  thousand 
pounds  was  raised  by  contributions  to  enable  the 
"Trustees  to  carry  out  their  generous  designs  for  the 
Salzburgers." 

These  noble  expressions  of  Christian  humanity  and 
liberality  were  largely  brought  about  through  the 
agency  of  the  Senior  Lutheran  pastor  at  Augsburg, 
the  Rev.  Samuel  Urlsperger,  who  had  himself  been  a 
sufferer  for  conscience'  sake,  and  who,  after  showing 
them  great  personal  kindness  when  on  their  march, 
they  halted  and  refreshed  themselves  among  the 
Lutheran  people  of  that  city,  exerted  himself  to  bring 
their  cause  to  the  attention  of  the  London  Society 
above  named.  And  let  it  here  be  noted  with  empha- 
sis that   Urlsperger   of  Augsburg,  G.  A.   Francke  of 


194  The  Lutherans  in  A?neriea. 

Ha.lle,  who  was  a  member  of  the  London  "SQciety  de 
Propaganda,"  etc.,  and  the  Court  Chaplain  Ziegen- 
hagen,  at  London,  were  not  only  largely  instrumental 
in  securing  the  assistance  which  brought  the  Salz- 
burgers  across  the  Atlantic,  but  that,  to  their  Chris- 
tian piety  and  missionary  zeal,  more  than  to  any 
other  human  agency,  is  due  the  founding  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  in  this  country.  Of  the  noblest  ex- 
amples of  Hallean  pietism,  bound  together  by  the 
ties  both  of  personal  friendship  and  of  the  strongest 
spiritual  affinity,  they  alike  had  a  heart  for  the  trials 
of  their  countrymen  and  brethren  in  the  faith  who 
were  separated  by  the  sea  from  the  communion  of 
their  Church,  and  an  enlightened  forecast  of  that 
Church  transplanted  to  the  American  wilderness. 
Their  apostolical  interest  in  these  feeble  American 
communities  and  their  co-operation  with  each  other 
secured  not  only  substantial  aid  from  Germany 
and  England  for  successive  emigrations,  but  also 
a  number  of  spiritually-minded,  cultured  and  faith- 
ful shepherds  to  care  for  the  exposed  and  forlorn 
flocks  in  the  desert.  Without  this  patronage  and  the 
unity  of  spirit  and  action  which  it  prompted,  they 
might  have  sunk  into  utter  spiritual  destitution  and 
oblivion. 

Under  the  promise  of  liberal  grants  of  land  and  of 
support  until  they  could  derive  subsistance  from  the 
soil,  a  company  of  ninety-one  Salzburgers  embarked 
for  America,  landing  at  Charleston,  in  March,  1734. 
They  were  accompanied  by  two  pastors,  John  Martin 
Bolzius  and  Israel  Christian  Gronau,  both  of  whom 
had  been  pupils  at  Francke's  Orphan  House  in  Halle, 


The  Earliest  Liitherans  in  America —  The  Germans.  195 

and  had  been  educated  for  the  pastoral  office  at  the 
university.  They  were  chosen  for  this  mission  by 
Francke  and  Urlsperger,  and  proved  wise,  efficient 
and  faithful  bishops,  rich  in  the  personal  experience 
of  grace,  fervent  in  Christian  zeal,  and  abundant  in 
labors. 

General  Ogelthorpe,  a  name  which  Bancroft  pro- 
nounces a  synonym  for  "vast  benevolence  of  soul," 
gave  them  a  cordial  welcome  to  his  colony,  offered 
them  kindly  and  valuable  counsel,  and  became  their 
constant  benefactor  and  patron,  so  that  these  pastors 
subsequently  testified :  "He  bears  great  love  to  the 
servants  and  children  of  God."  A  "  corps  of  observa- 
tion "  selected  for  them  a  district  in  the  interior,  thirty 
miles  from  Savannah,  a  choice  which  was  altogether 
satisfactory  to  the  exiles.  "  Arriving  upon  the  ground 
with  their  wives  and  their  little  ones,  they  set  up  a 
rock;  they  broke  the  silence  of  the  wilderness  as  they 
sang  a  hymn  of  praise;  they  sought  the  blessing  of 
the  Lord  with  the  earnest  voice  of  prayer;  and  they 
erected  a  memorial  to  the  goodness  of  God  displayed 
in  their  deliverance  by  naming  their  settlement  'Eben- 
ezer,'  or  'Hitherto  the  Lord  has  helped  us.'" 

Accessions  came  from  time  to  time,  enlarging  the 
settlement  and  strengthening  its  spiritual  condition. 
A  second  company,  numbering  fifty-seven,  arrived 
early  in  1735.  The  favorable  reports  concerning  the 
Salzburgers  stimulated  the  enterprise  of  the  "Trus- 
tees," and  in  October,  1735,  they  fitted  out  two  ships 
for  Georgia  laden  with  emigrants.  Among  these 
were  about  eighty  Salzburgers.  Their  voyage  has 
become  famous  from  the  presence  of  Oglethorpe  and 


196  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

the   two  Wesleys  in   the   company,  and  the  profound 
impression  which  was  made  upon  John  Wesley  by  the 
calmness,  the  childlike   confidence,  the    heroic  spirit,, 
and   the  joyful   singing   of   these  Lutherans  during  a  -^^  J 
storm  when  every  other  heart  was  quaking-  and  some  //V^t,->- 
were    almost  dead    with    terror.       Wesleys    religious 
experience  had   not  reached   the  stage  of  filial  faith 
and  joy,  and  the  fortitude  and    cheerfulness  of  these 
people,  manifested    in    calm  or   tempest  alike  by  men 
and  women  and  children,  were  a  revelation  to  Wesley 
which  became  a  blessed  factor  in  the  development  of 
his  own  spiritual  life  and  of  the  society  he  founded. 

The  majority  of  this  company  united  at  once  with 
the  community  at  Ebenezer.  Others  followed  year 
after  year,  until  they  numbered,  in  1741,  a  population 
of  more  than  twelve  hundred.  They  were  generally 
characterized  by  fervent  piety  and  governed  by  lofty 
Christian  principle.  "No  sooner  did  they  take  pos- 
session of  the  wilderness  than  a  tabernacle  is  set  up 
for  the  Lord.  This  is  speedily  followed  by  provision 
for  the  education  of  the  children  :  then  an  asylum  for 
the  lonely  orphan  succeeds."  It  is  doubtless  for  the 
latter  institution  that  Whitfield,  who  was  greatly 
touched  by  the  spirituality  of  these  people,  is  said 
to  have  collected  money  in  different  parts  of  the 
country. 

Their  pastors  justified  the  wisdom  that  had  selected 
them.  They  possessed  admirable  administrative 
qualities.  They  well  understood  the  responsibilities 
of  their  position  and  maintained  a  careful  oversight 
of  the  flock.  "The  fruits  of  their  labor,  as  they  grew 
and   ripened   at   Ebenezer   in   peace  and   industry,  in 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America — The  Germans.  197 

moral    purity    and    Christian    love,  presented    to    the 
eyes  of  strangers  and  visitors  all  the  appearance  of  a 


t-.::^'<&0. 


field  which  the  Lord  hath  blessed."     "Their  town  was 
marked  by  neatness  and   pleasantness.      No  drunken, 


198  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

no  idle,  no  profligate  people  were  amongst  them;  in- 
dustry and  harmony  prevailed,  souls  were  converted 
by  the  word  of  God,  and  believers  were  edified."  Ban- 
croft says  of  them  :  "They  were  indeed  a  noble  army 
of  martyrs  going  forth  in  the  strength  of  God,  and 
triumphing  in  the  faith  of  the  Gospel  under  the 
severest  hardships  and  the  most  rigorous  persecu- 
tions. They  were  marshalled  under  no  banners  save 
that  of  the  cross,  and  were  preceded  by  no  leaders 
save  their  spiritual  teachers  and  the  great  Captain  of 
their  Salvation." 

Pennsylvania  continued  to  be  the  "  Land  of  Prom- 
ise "  for  German  immigrants.  Their  numbers  beean 
to  excite  serious  apprehensions  on  the  part  of  the 
civil  authorities.  The  colonial  records  of  that  prov- 
ince in  1 71 7  contain  an  official  communication  from 
Governor  Keith,  stating  that  great  numbers  of  foreign- 
ers, strangers  to  our  language  and  constitution,  are 
spreading  themselves  over  the  country,  and  warnincr 
against  the  danger  o  f  so  large  an  influx  of  aliens.  An- 
other large  accession  reached  the  same  province  in 
1727  from  W'rtemberg,  the  Palatinate,  Hesse-Darm- 
stadt and  other  German  Principalities.  No  wonder 
the  English  settlers  and  the  government  became 
alarmed.  These  strangers  threatened  to  overwhelm 
them  and  were  likely  soon  to  gain  the  ascendency  in 
the  government.  Logan,  the  Secretary  of  William 
Penn,  complained  that  the  Germans  were  arriving  in 
such  masses  that  they  would  ere  long  form  a  German 
colony,  and  the  story  of  the  Saxon  Conquest  of  Brit- 
ain might  repeat  itself  in  the  hitherto  peaceful  do- 
main of  the  Quakers.     The  legislative  branch  of  the 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Germans.  199 

government   took    fright  over  the  same  spectre,  and 
addressed,  in  1728,  an  official  warning  to  the  Governor, 
reminding  him  that  this  vast  immigration  was  endan- 
gering  the  peace  and  security  of  the  stateand  propos- 
ing the  inauguration  of  measures  either  to  prevent  or 
restrict   the  further   importation  of  foreigners.     The 
Governor  sharing  their  fears,  a  law  prohibiting  further 
immigration  was   enacted.     Not  that  there  was  hos- 
tility to  these  people  themselves,  many  of  whom  it  was 
admitted    were    industrious,  peaceable    and    well-dis- 
posed, but   it  was  the  purpose  to  prevent  an  English 
.  settlement  from  becoming  a  colony  of  foreigners  with 
the  predominance  of  their  laws  and  language.     These 
astute    Pennsylvania    legislators    were    however    not 
long   in   discovering  that  their  fears  had  gotten  the 
better  of  their  wits.     Their  attempt  to  tackle  the  emi- 
gration problem  discovered  them  to  be  a  set  of  fools. 
Their  enactment  against  foreigners  proved  a  terrible 
blow  to   the   prosperity  of  the   infant   colony.     One 
year  sufficed  to  abolish  all  restrictions  excepting  those 
against  persons  who  would  become  a  public  burden. 
And  but  a  few  years  later  the  very  authorities  that 
had   been  frightened  into   hostile  procedures  against 
their  further  immigration  publicly  attested  the  bene- 
fits which  the  colony  was  deriving  from   these  indus- 
trious Germans  who  had  changed  the  wild  forest  into 
a  fruitful  garden.     The  prosperous  condition  of  the 
colony,  Governor  Thomas  declared,  was  for  the  most 
part  due  to  the   industry  of  the  "oppressed   protest- 
ants  from  the  Palatinate  and  other  parts  of  Germany  " 
— a  testimony  which   voiced  the  general   estimate  of 
the  German  settlers  of  Pennsylvania. 


200  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

The  restrictions  to  their  coming  being  removed, 
thousands  kept  pouring  into  the  colony.  In  the  au- 
tumn of  1749  twenty-five  ships  brought  7049  souls, 
and  for  that  whole  summer  the  German  immigrants 
numbered  12,000.  The  following  year  witnessed  an- 
other large  influx  and  so  succeeding  years,  especially 

1755- 

This  great  influx  from  Germany  was  brought  about, 

alas,  not  by  any  missionary  colonizing  of  the  Church, 
nor  even  by  any  projects  of  colonial  expansion  on  the 
part  of  the  State.  It  was  the  work  of  ship  companies 
and  their  cunning  and  voracious  agents,  who  carried 
on  a  traffic  in  human  souls  which  was  attended  with 
nearly  all  the  abominations  and  cruelties  of  the  Afri- 
can slave  trade.  These  agents,  known  as  Neulandcr, 
overran  Germany,  preaching  up  emigration  to  the 
"New  Land"  which  flowed  not  only  with  milk  and 
honey,  but  with  gold  and  silver,  where  men  could  reap 
without  having  sown,  where  the  maid-servant  became 
a  lady  and  the  ploughman  a  lord.  Operating  with 
such  representations  upon  the  simple-minded  peas- 
antry, especially  upon  the  poor  and  oppressed  classes, 
they  prevailed  upon  large  numbers  to  make  their  way 
to  the  ports  of  Holland  where,  before  sailing,  they 
were  compelled  to  sign  a  contract  in  the  English  lan- 
guage, the  purport  of  which  they  did  not  comprehend. 
They  were  crowded  and  packed  into  vessels  even  to 
the  verge  of  suffocation  and  subjected  to  such  inhu- 
man experiences  that  during  a  single  year  over  two 
thousand  of  these  wretched  people  died  during  the 
passage.  Such  as  survived  the  untold  miseries  of  the 
voyage  found  themselves,  on  landing  at   Philadelphia, 


The  Earliest  LutJierans  in  America — The  Germans.  201 

at  the  disposal  of  the  captain  of  the  vessel,  who  under 
the  hammer  of  the  auctioneer,  sold  husband,  wife, 
parent,  child,  to  the  highest  bidder,  who  in  turn  held 
them  in  servitude  according  to  agre  and  strength, 
three,  six,  ten  or  more  years,  the  proceeds  of  their 
sale  covering  the  expense  of  their  transportation. 

"Many  hardy  Germans,  having  money  enough  to 
pay  their  fare,  preferred  to  sell  themselves  for  a  term 
of  years,  in  order  to  learn  the  language  and  the  ways 
of  the  country.  Others  paid  half  the  fare  and  were 
sold  for  the  remainder;  and  some  paid  the  passage  of 
the  family  by  selling  one  or  two  of  their  surplus  child- 
ren into  bondage  during  minority."  This  unhappy 
traffic  was  of  course  not  restricted  to  the  German 
population.  The  number  of  such  bond-servants  even 
in  New  England  is  said  to  have  been  quite  large, 
while  in  Pennsylvania  every  kind  of  business  depended 
upon  the  labor  of  indentured  servants.  "  Many  of  these 
were  of  excellent  character  and  rose  to  good  positions. 
Some  bond-maids  were  married  to  those  who  pur- 
chased them.  Through  industry  and  frugality  some 
servants  acquired  wealth  and  founded  families  that 
rose  to  respectability  and  honor." 

The  papers  of  the  day  abound  in  advertisements 
offering  for  sale  German  immigrants.  And  the  Eng- 
lish,  Dutch  and  German  residents  of  Philadelphia, 
and  even  some  from  other  colonies,  repaired  to  the 
newly  arrived  vessel  and  selected  from  the  healthy 
passengers  such  as  they  deemed  best  adapted  to  their 
employment.  As  each  member  of  a  family  upon  their 
arrival  was  liable  to  be  purchased  by  a  different  party, 
they  often  became  widely  scattered,  were  kept  asunder 


202  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

through  long  and  weary  years  of  bondage,  and  doomed 
in  many  cases  never  to  see  each  other's  face  again. 
Great  masses  of  helpless  people  coming  hither  under 
such  circumstances,  evoked  the  deepest  commisera- 
tion of  their  countrymen.  Their  wrongs  and  suffer- 
ings led  to  the  formation  of  "the  German  Society  of 
Pennsylvania,"  which  aimed  to  provide  such  legal  as- 
sistance as  might  be  needed  by  these  foreigners  on 
their  arrival  to  secure  their  rights,  and  especially  to 
protect  them  against  the  injustice  and  inhumanity  of 
the  sea  captains  and  the  shameless  treachery  of  the 
emigration  sharks. 

History  thus  records  a  rapid  increase  of  the  Ger- 
man element  in  Pennsylvania.  About  the  middle  of 
the  century  the  whole  population  of  the  province  is 
set  down  between  175,000  and  220,000,  and  of  this 
number  fully  one-half  were  Germans.  Among  these 
the  Lutheran  element  outnumbered  the  Reformed  two 
to  one.  It  may  safely  be  asserted  that  the  Lutheran 
population  of  Pennsylvania  alone,  in  the  year  1750, 
aggregated  the  enormous  figure  of  60,000. 

Before  the  arrival  of  the  Salzburgers,  German 
Lutherans,  evidently  Palatines,  had  settled  in  Charles- 
ton, S.  C.,  then  a  flourishing  town.  Pastor  Bolzius 
administered  the  Lord's  Supper  to  them  and  he  and 
his  colleague  gave  probably  the  impulse  to  the  forma- 
tion of  a  conof relation,*  although  with  some,  their  love 
for  the  Word  and  the  Holy  Sacraments  was  so  great 
that  they  concluded  to  remove  to  Ebenezer  as  soon 
as  possible.  They  were  without  a  regular  pastor  un- 
til 1755,  when  tne  Rev.  Joh.  G.  Friederichs  was  for 
some   years    in    charge,  laying   the   corner-stone   of  a 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Germans.  203 

church   in    1759.     He  withdrew  shortly  after  this  time 
and  the  church  was  not  built  till  1763. 

The  earliest  settlement  of  Germans  in  that  colony 
falls  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne.  They  occupied 
various  districts  in  the  interior,  at  the  forks  of  the 
Saluda  and  Broad  rivers,  on  the  banks  of  the  Con- 
garee  and  Wateree  and  along  the  Savannah,  and  re- 
ceived large  grants  of  land  from  the  Queen  for  church 
and  school  purposes.  Of  the  Dutch  Lutherans  on 
James  Island  mention  has  already  been  made.*  About 
1735,  colonies  of  Germans  and  Swiss  settled  in 
Orangeburg,  and  organized  a  Lutheran  congregation, 
the  first  one  in  the  two  Carolinas.  With  fresh  acces- 
sions in  1737  came  also  a  pastor,  J  oh.  Ulrich  Giesen- 
danner,  a  native  of  Switzerland,  who  had  presumably 
been  ordained  in  that  country,  but  was  engaged  for  a 
time  as  teacher  of  the  Halle  Orphanage.  He  was  the 
first  Lutheran  minister  in  the  Carolinas  and  served 
this  congregation  for  a  period  of  ten  years,  laboring 
amid  great  difficulties.  A  house  of  worship,  built  of 
wood  and  clay,  was  erected  some  time  before  1743. 
Immigration  from  Germany  continued  and  the  entire 
district  was  colonized  almost  exclusively  by  Germans 
and  Swiss. 

Another  colony  settled,  in  1737,  in  a  district  form- 
erly called  Saxe-Gotha,  now  Lexington  county,  about 
one  hundred  miles  form  Charleston.  Its  numbers 
were  increased  by  a  large  influx  of  their  countrymen 
especially  in  the  years  1744  and  1750.  A  Reformed 
preacher  had  the  spiritual  oversight  of  them  for  some 
time,  but  Lutheran  settlers,  like  others  in  different 
parts  of  the   same  colony,  made   application  to  their 


204 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


brethren  at  Ebenezer  for  Lutheran  ministrations  and 
for  a  Lutheran  shepherd.     The  best  these  could  do 


for  them  was  to  send  them  books  for  devotional  pur- 
poses and  for  the  instruction  of  the  young.  Still 
another  settlement  of  German  Lutherans  was  founded 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America — The  Germans.  205 

in  Abbeville  County,  S.  C,  about  1763  and  1764.  In 
some  of  these  districts  the  Lutherans  erected  the  first 
churches. 

In  1  710  two  ship-loads  of  Palatines,  numbering  alto- 
gether six  hundred  and  fifty  souls,  were  colonized  by 
the  beneficent  Queen  Anne  in  North  Carolina,  at  the 
confluence  of  the  Neuse  and  Trent,  where  in  conjunc- 
tion with  a  considerable  body  of  Swiss  they  formed  a 
settlement  which,  was  called  New  Berne.  A  year  later 
a  terrible  Indian  massacre,  instigated  by  some  white 
wretches,  almost  exterminated  the  colony  and  applied 
the  torch  to  their  humble  dwellings.  Such  as  re- 
mained suffered,  like  their  countrymen  in  New  York, 
greater  outrages  from  the  white  savages  than  they 
endured  after  this  time  from  the  Red  men.  They 
were  for  the  most  part  of  the  Lutheran  faith,  but  they 
had  no  pastoral  servcies  and  no  house  of  worship, 
and  appear  to  have  been  gradually  absorbed  by  the 
Episcopal  denomination,  which  was  the  religion  estab- 
lished by  law  in  the  Carolinas. 

Some  German  Protestant  families,  aggregating  fifty 
in  number,  settled  in  1714  along  the  Rappahannock 
river,  in  what  is  now  Madison  County,  Va.  They 
were  fugitives  from  the  New  Berne  settlement  where 
the  Indians  had  spread  terror  and  desolation. 
Twenty  families  were  added  to  them  in  1 7 1 7.  The 
latter  came  from  the  neighborhood  of  Alsace  and  the 
Palatinate,  fleeing  from  the  extreme  distress  which  had 
overtaken  those  fair  countries.  The  Rev.  John  Cas- 
par Stoever  found  there,  in  1733,  about  three  hundred 
people  with  an  organized  congregation,  the  Hebron 
Church,  of  which  he   reports   himself  the  first  pastor, 


206  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

and  says  that  for  sixteen  years  it  had  been  without  a 
pastor  and  without  the  ordinances  of  public  worship. 

The  seeds  o  f  Lutheranism,  it  seems,  were  destined  to 
be  scattered,  even  in  the  earliest  period  of  American 
history  over  every  portion  of  the  country —  a  proph- 
ecy and  a  pledge  that  the  Lutheran  Church  was  ulti- 
mately to  reap  a  harvest  here  co-extensive  with  the 
leno-th  and  breadth  of  this  vast  domain.  On  the  wild 
and  forbidding  coast  of  Maine  a  few  German  emi- 
grants were  located  in  1739.  An  accession  of  forty 
families  from  Brunswick  and  Saxony  was  welcomed 
by  them  in  1740.  They  entered  the  harbor  of  Broad 
Bay  and  effected  a  settlement  where  the  present  town 
of  Waldoboro*  stands.  They  had  been  tempted  away 
from  their  homes  by  the  siren  allurements  which  cun- 
ning speculators  offered  them  in  the  form  of  free 
homes,  fertile  acres,  salubrious  climate,  governmental 
protection  and  provision  for  the  support  of  their  re- 
ligion— promises  which  were  kept  to  the  ear  but 
broken  to  the  heart.  They  found  a  sterile  soil,  an 
unbroken  forest,  savage  beasts  and  more  savage  men. 
They  suffered  incredible  hardships  and  almost  per- 
ished of  starvation.  The  Indians  fell  upon  them  in 
1746,  reduced  their  rude  but  peaceful  habitations  to 
ashes,  murdered  many  of  the  settlers  in  cold  blood, 
carried  the  remainder  into  captivity  and  turned  the 
whole  region  into  a  dreary  waste. 

Strange  to  tell,  a  few  years  later  the  flattering  rep- 
resentations of  General  Waldo  succeeded  in  drawing 
to  this  same  inhospitable  region  another  body  of  Ger- 
mans, as  if  "the  soil  that  had  drunk  in  the  blood  of 
their    martyred    brethren,  was   to    them    consecrated 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America —  The  Germans.  207 

ground."  Some  twenty  families  landed  on  the  bleak 
coast  of  Maine  late  in  November,  175 1,  and  public 
and  private  charity  had  to  be  invoked  to  provide  for 
their  necessities  through  a  New  England  winter. 
With  the  opening  of  spring  they  journeyed  inland 
and  joined  the  remnant  of  their  brethren  who,  after 
the  massacre,  had  returned  to  their  old  possessions  at 
Broad  Bay.  Moved  by  the  magnificent  offers  and 
promises  of  the  "hereditary  Lord  of  Broad  Bay,"  sixty 
more  families  soon  followed,  and  it  is  claimed  by  the 
historians  of  Maine  that  altogether  as  many  as  fifteen 
hundred  Germans  emigrated  from  time  to  time  and 
settled  on  the  patent  of  this  self-styled  "hereditary 
lord."  They  were  doomed  for  the  most  part  to  a 
miserable  fate.  The  promises  of  their  so-called  pa- 
tron were  left  wholly  unfulfilled.  Numbers  arriving 
in  the  fall  of  the  year,  "they  dragged  out  a  winter  of 
almost  inconceivable  suffering.  Many  froze  to  death, 
many  perished  with  hunger  or  diseases  induced  by 
their  privations." 

Instead  of  large  tracts  being  assigned  to  them  sev- 
erally on  the  coast,  they  were  taken  into  the  heart  of 
the  wilderness,  they  were  left  defenceless  against 
the  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife  of  the  Indian. 
They  came  into  extreme  destitution.  It  is  said  of 
one  family  that  they  subsisted  a  whole  winter  on  frost- 
fish,  with  only  four  quarts  of  meal,  "and  many  a  wo- 
man did  a  hard  day's  work  at  planting  or  hoeing  for 
a  quart  of  butter-milk."  At  last,  when  under  dread- 
ful hardships  they  had  cleared  the  forest,  when  they 
had  brought  the  land  under  cultivation,  when  they  had 
erected    comfortable    shelter  for   their   families,  and 


20S 


The  Lutherans  in  .  Imerica. 


their  improvements  had  made  the  property  valuable,, 
these  pious,  unsuspecting  Lutherans  discovered  that 
the  title  to  their  lands  was  not  valid,  and  thus  what 
the  Indians  had  spared  was  to  be  taken  from  them  by 
their  Christian  friends.  In  this  dilemma  a  number  of 
them  repurchased  their  lands,  receiving  other  deeds, 
only  to  be  harassed  again  by  the  harpies  of  the  law 
and  the  greed  of  inhuman  peculators,  contrary  to 
every  principle  of  justice  and  good  faith,  with  no  rem- 
edy for  their  grievances  and  without  the  least  remun- 
eration or  indemnity  for  their  losses. 

Although  some  of  the  colony  were  adherents  of  the 


ONE  OF  THE  FIRST  DANISH  LUTHERAN  CHURCHES  IN  AMERICA. 

Reformed  worship,  and  some  were  Moravians,  they 
united  with  the  Lutherans,  as  soon  as  they  had  erected 
huts  for  themselves,  in  building  a  humble  church  in  a 
central  position.  Though  without  an  ordained  pas- 
tor, they  assembled  every  Lord's  Day  for  public  wor- 
ship. One  of  their  principal  men,  John  Ulmer,  took 
the  lead,  acted  as  their  minister  and  really  received 
pay  as  such  from  the  patron  of  the  colony. 


The  Earliest  Lutherans  in  America — The  Germans.  209 

In  the  first  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  Ger- 
man and  Dutch  Lutherans  were  found  in  New  Jersey. 
Congregations  were  organized  at  Hackensack,  where 
Dutch  Lutherans  had  settled  somewhere  about  1680 
or  1690,  and  in  Bergen,  Hunterdon  and  Salem  Coun- 
ties, where  also  the  Dutch  and  German  Lutherans 
were  combined. 

These  churches  were  for  the  most  part  organized  by 
Falckner,  for  some  time  the  only  Lutheran  minister 
in  New  York  and  New  Jersey.  He  labored  some 
twenty  years  in  this  section,  diligently  hunting  up  the 
settlements  of  Lutherans  and  faithfully  ministering  to 
them.  He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Berkenmeier,  who 
from  1725  to  1732  served  all  the  congregations  in  that 
region,  bringing  some  of  them  to  marked  prosperity. 
He  in  turn  was  followed  by  Knoll,  Wolf  and  the  ever 
faithful  pastors  of  the  Swedish  churches  on  the  Dela- 
ware, who  though  living  a  hundred  miles  remote,  and 
overburdened  with  the  cares  of  their  own  churches, 
kept  a  watchful  eye  on  the  German  and  Dutch  con- 
gregations in  both  these  provinces,  and  again  and 
again  are  seen  kindly  ministering,  in  whatever  lang- 
uage was  required,  to  these  brethren  in  the  faith. 

No  traces  have  been  found  of  a  Lutheran  settle- 
ment in  Maryland  during  this  period,  but  a  recently 
discovered  letter  of  Lord  Baltimore,  written  to  his 
agent  in  1732,  offers  in  his  free  colony  an  asylum  to 
the  Palatines  and  Salzburgers.  The  reasons  for  de- 
clining this  invitation  are  unknown. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    CHURCH    OF    THE    DISPERSION. 

THE  Apostle  Peter  addressed  his  first  epistle  "  to 
the  elect  who  are  sojourners  of  the  Dispersion 
in  Pontus,  Galatia,  Cappadocia,  Asia  and  Bythi- 
nia,"  (Rev.  Vers.)  We  can  have  no  better  definition 
for  the  Lutherans  who  during  the  first  half  of  the  ei^h- 
teenth  century  were  scattered  throughout  the  "divers 
provinces  and  regions"  of  the  New  World,  all  the 
way  from  Maine  to  Georgia.  The  Germans  especially 
had  become  numerous.  The  Palatines  had  multiplied 
rapidly  both  by  natural  increase  and  by  large  rein- 
forcements from  the  father-land,  and  they  had  become 
dispersed  over  nearly  all  the  colonies.  The  German 
Lutherans,  who  kept  pouring  into  Philadelphia  by 
thousands  upon  thousands,  were  scattered  far  into  the 
interior,  having  strong  and  flourishing  communities  in 
Montgomery,  Berks,  Lancaster  and  York  Counties. 
Their  entire  number  throughout  the  country  at  the 
middle  of  the  century  fell  probably  but  little  short  of 
100,000.  The  great  majority  of  these  lived  in  Penn- 
sylvania, where  they  were  recognized  as  a  large  and 
notable  element  of  society.  In  other  colonies  likewise 
they  made  their  presence  felt,  and  both  by  their  thrifty 
ways,  their  pure  morality  and  their  ardent  piety  at- 
tracted the  admiration  of  their  neighbors.  Dr.  Dor- 
chester says  :  "The  German  emigration  was  not  only 
extensive  but  very  pure,  and  almost  wholly  Protestant, 
with  a  high  standard  of  morality  and  distinguished  for 


The   Church  of  the  Dispersion.  211 

Christian  virtues."     They  consisted,  however,  for  the 
most  part,  not  of  the  great  ones  of  the  world. 

As  among  the  early  Christians  "  not  many  wise  men 
after  the  flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble," 
were  among  them.  They  sought  in  this  land  refuge 
from  the  political  and  ecclesiastical  oppressions  which 
had  kept  them  in  poverty  and  misery.  It  was  largely 
the  extremity  of  their  distress,  the  desperation  of 
souls  whom  religious  persecution  and  the  ravages  of 
war  had  stripped  of  their  earthly  all,  that  drove  them 
to  these  hospitable  shores.  Their  coming  was  em- 
phatically a  struggle  for  existence.  And  existence  is 
about  all  that  many  could  boast  of  for  the  first  gene- 
ration of  their  settlement  here,  numbers  of  them  be- 
ing content  with  the  servitude  of  years  for  their  pas- 
sage which  put  the  sea  between  them  and  their  op- 
pressors. 

There  were  indeed  among  them  persons  from  the 
higher  classes,  men  of  influence,  of  culture  and  of 
means,  who  rendered  to  their  brethren  in  the  faith 
great  services  both  for  their  temporal  and  spiritual 
welfare.  In  the  case  of  not  a  few,  industry  and  fru- 
gality gradually  brought  prosperity  and  wealth,  but 
the  masses  of  them  were  not  landed  proprietors  or 
wealthy  merchants.  On  their  arrival  they  found 
themselves  in  an  almost  unexplored  wilderness,  in  a 
state  of  absolute  destitution,  and  a  long  period  must, 
in  the  nature  of  things,  elapse  before  their  laborious 
toil  would  yield  them  more  than  the  necessities  of  a 
livelihood.  Besides  the  ordinary  trials  in  a  wild  dis- 
trict which  they  were  the  first  to  settle  and  subdue, 
they  were  subjected  to  unrighteous  maltreatment  by 


212  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

neighbors  and  officials  into  whose  clutches  they  had 
fallen;  the  tenure  to  their  lands,  which  their  labor 
and  indescribable  hardships  had  cleared  and  brought 
under  cultivation,  was  in  a  number  of  cases  pro- 
nounced invalid.  Princely  domains  allotted  to  them 
by  royal  munificence  were  in  turn  wrested  from  them 
after  their  improvements  had  made  them  valuable. 
The  emigrant  runner  and  the  real  estate  shark,  then, 
as  now,  seem  to  have  formed  an  infernal  partnership, 
by  which  they  first  lured  these  people  into  the  desert, 
and  then,  after  by  their  pains  it  had  been  made  to 
blossom  as  the  rose,  they  dispossessed  them  of  their 
homes  and  despoiled  them  of  their  property.  One 
shrinks  from  portraying  the  cruelties,  the  wrongs,  the 
robberies,  the  harrowing-  sorrows  which  were  endured 
by  those  in  whom  the  doctrines  and  treasures  of  our 
church  were  first  translated  into  this  country. 

Although  these  trials  were  such  as  most  fully  tested 
her  vitality,  yet  to  look  for  a  vigorous  upbuilding  of 
the  Church  under  such  circumstances  would  be,  to  say 
the  least,  to  expect  moral  miracles.  Such  miracles 
are  indeed  not  unknown,  and  the  depth  of  her  poverty 
has  more  than  once  coincided  with  the  period  of  the 
Church's  bloom.  Yet  it  is  unwarrantable  to  cite  here 
the  rapid  development  of  primitive  Christianity ;  for 
then  the  extraordinary  gifts  of  the  Spirit  supplied  those 
resources  which  are  indispensable  to  the  maintenance 
of  religious  ordinances  and  institutions.  A  cer- 
tain proportion  of  this  world's  goods  is  ordinarily 
necessary  for  the  supply  of  an  adequate  ministry,  for 
the  provision  of  places  of  public  worship,  and  for  the 
education  of  youth.      Inevitably  therefore   the   estab- 


The   Church  of  the  Dispersion.  213 

lishment  and  growth  of  the  Church  was  sadly  retarded 
by  the  necessitous  circumstances  and  miserable  con- 
dition of  those  Lutherans  who  settled  the  primeval 
forests  of  America.  Of  material  there  was  no  lack. 
There  never  has  been.  Fields  white  to  the  harvest 
are  ever  calling  for  Lutheran  reapers.  The  very 
abundance  of  the  material  staggered  and  overwhelmed 
the  heroic  men  who  sought  to  rear  out  of  it  a 
Christian  church.  With  all  their  zeal  for  their  spir- 
itual mother  and  their  love  and  sympathy  for  her  peo- 
ple, they  seem  to  have  deplored  and  deprecated  the 
continuous  streams  pouring  in,  "because  they  were 
calculated  by  their  very  dependence  and  helplessness 
to  divide  the  attentions  of  the  pastors,  already  over- 
burdened with  labors,  and  to  cramp  the  energies  of 
congregations  already  established." 

A  few  of  the  colonies,  like  the  Swedes  and  Salzburg- 
ers,  had  brought  pastors  with  them,  and  they  organ- 
ized flourishing  congregations  immediately  upon  their 
arrival,  and  wherever  there  were  Lutheran  conoreo-a- 
tions  served  by  Lutheran  pastors,  a  church-buildino- 
and  a  school-house  would  soon  rise  out  of  the  earth. 
On  the  shores  of  the  Delaware  and  in  the  savannas  of 
Georgia  the  silence  of  ages  was  broken  by  the  songs 
of  Zion,  and  the  joy  and  prosperity  which  marked 
those  godly  communities  show  what  might  have  been, 
had  all  the  Lutheran  settlements  been  supplied  from 
the  very  first  with  earnest  and  faithful  ministers. 
Alas!  what  might  have  been  in  every  period  of  our 
church  in  this  country,  had  the  supply  of  the  minis- 
try been  at  all  times  equal  to  the  demand,  had  the 
number   of    workmen    been    commensurate    with    the 


214  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

work  ?  Here  has  been  the  fatal  drawback  to  the 
growth  of  the  American  Lutheran  Church.  This  has 
been  her  vital  hurt,  her  festering  sore.  From  the 
time,  two  centuries  ago,  that  her  wandering  fugitives 
were  scattered  over  the  bleak  mountains  and  trackless 
forests  of  this  wide  new  world,  down  to  the  closing 
decade  of  the  nineteenth  century,  there  has  never 
been  a  period  in  the  Lutheran  Church  which  did  not 
reveal  vast  numbers  of  her  neglected  children  over 
whom  the  heart  must  sigh  as  over  lost  sheep  that 
have  no  shepherd.  The  Church's  wants  appear  always 
to  be  multiplying  faster  than  the  means  of  supplying 
them,  the  laity  increasing  in  more  rapid  proportions 
than  the  ministry.  At  the  close  ot  the  year  1888  sta- 
tistics show  that  the  average  yearly  gain  of  new 
churches  during  the  last  four  years  is  four  hundred 
and  sixteen  ■  that  of  ministers  only  one  hundred  and 
sixty-six. 

The  temporal  condition  of  these  early  Lutherans  was 
then  but  equalled  by  their  melancholy  spiritual  desti- 
tution. The  great  body  had  come  over  the  water 
without  any  religious  instructors,  without  any  organ- 
ization or  formal  bond  between  them,  and  without  any 
pecuniary  means  with  which  either  to  erect  houses  of 
worship  or  to  employ  ministers  had  it  been  possible 
to  procure  any  of  their  language.  There  was  no  mis- 
sion board  to  care  for  them.  There  was  no  charita- 
ble organization  in  the  fatherland  to  interest  the  pub- 
lie  in  their  behalf.  They  had  come,  too,  from  the 
numerous  different  principalities  and  governments  of 
Germany,  in  one  of  the  most  gloomy  periods  of  its 
history,  and  they  were  therefore  without  any  bond  of 


The   Church  of  the  Dispersion.  215 

national  sympathy  or  co-operation,  but  rather  alien- 
ated from  each  other  and  divided  by  traditional  ani- 
mosities and  antipathies,  while  not  a  single  govern- 
ment in  Germany  is  known  to  have  given  either  aid, 
comfort  or  protection  to  a  solitary  company  of  its 
suffering  emigrants. 

Sweden,  with  the  hearty  encouragement  of  its  sov- 
ereign, forwarded  generous  assistance  to  the  Lutheran 
congregations  of  its  American  colonists  on  the  Dela- 
ware, and  supplied  them  with  a  continuous  succession 
of  able  pastors,  who  brought  their  churches  to  a  high 
degree  of  prosperity.  The  Dutch,  the  English  and 
the  Scotch  extended  a  large  measure  of  support  to 
the  missionaries  and  congregations  of  their  respective 
churches  in  the  New  World.  But  the  thousands  of 
Germans  in  Pennsylvania  and  the  adjacent  provinces 
had  not  a  single  state  government,  nor  a  single  church 
organization  to  look  after  their  spiritual  welfare,  and, 
excepting  the  active  Court-chaplain  Ziegenhagen  in 
London,  and  the  noble  Francke  at  Halle,  and  a  few 
more  of  their  Pietist  brethren,  there  seems  to  have 
prevailed  universal  and  absolute  indifference  among 
the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities  of  Germany 
toward  the  spiritual  welfare  of  their  brethren  who  had 
emigrated  to  America. 

There  were  laboring  among  the  dispersed  Luther- 
ans of  this  country,  about  the  year  1730,  eight  regular 
ministers.  Two  of  these  cared  for  the  flock  at  Eben- 
ezer.  Two  Swedish  pastors  ministered  to  their  coun- 
trymen in  the  little  nook  around  Philadelphia,  now 
embraced  partly  in  the  State  of  Delaware,  partly  in 
Pennsylvania.      In    the    province    of    New  York    was 


The  Church  of   the  Dispersion.  217 

stationed  since  1725  Rev.  William  Christopher  Berk- 
enmeier,  serving  congregations  at  New  York,  Albany, 
Athens,  Newberg  (Quassaik),  and  West  Camp,  besides 
three  in  New  Jersey,  preaching  in  Dutch,  German  and 
English  as  circumstances  required.  The  congregation 
in  New  York  was  large  and  prosperous.  Although 
thousands  of  Lutherans  were  settled  along  the  Hud- 
son and  the  Mohawk,  and  in  other  parts  of  the  colony 
and  of  New  Jersey,  there  was  no  other  regularly  or- 
dained minister  in  all  that  district.  Rev.  John  Cas- 
par Stoever  was  with  the  little  colony  on  the  Rappa- 
hannock, and  another  Stoever,  a  relative  of  the  above, 
bearing  exactly  the  same  name,  who  came  to  this 
country  in  1728,  was  residing  at  New  Holland,  Lan- 
caster County,  Pa.,  having  for  a  brief  time  served  the 
congregations  at  Philadelphia,  Providence  and  New 
Hanover.  Rev.  J.  U.  Giesendanner  was  the  spiritual 
shepherd  of  one  of  the  South  Carolina  communities. 
Between  these  few  laborers  intervened  distances  ex- 
tending hundreds  of  miles,  with  no  roads  connecting 
the  different  localities,  with  no  possible  means  of 
travel  save  on  horseback,  with  no  protection  against 
the  wild  beasts  that  prowled  through  the  forests  and 
no  security  against  the  savage  who  was  ever  lying  in 
ambush  for  the  white  intruder  into  his  hunting- 
grounds.  The  large  province  of  Pennsylvania,  with  a 
Lutheran  population  of  sixty  thousand,  had  in  all  its 
area  one  solitary  German  pastor. 

Long  before  this  period  the  Puritans  of  New  Eng- 
land had  an  average  of  more  than  two  ministers  to  a 
congregation,  and  all  of  them  men  of  education,  for 
the   most   part  voluntary  exiles  from    England  where 


2l8 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


they  suffered  for  their  convictions.  So  far  as  the  care 
of  their  own  laborious  parishes  and  their  knowl- 
edge of  the  language 
permitted,  the  Swed- 
ish pastors  ministered 
to  the  little  German 
conereeation  in  Phila- 
delphia  and  dispens- 
ed the  gospel  occa- 
sionally to  the  numer- 
ous surrounding  settle- 
m  e  n  t  s,  preaching  i  n 
groves  and  barns,  and 
founding  churches  at 
Lancaster  and  German- 
town  (1730)  and  at 
York  (1733).  From 
the  beginning  the  most 
cordial  relations  ob- 
tained between  the 
Swedes  and  the  Ger- 
mans. The  Salzburg 
pastors  extended  their 
ministrations  to  some 
of  the  struggling  com- 
munities in  South  Car- 
olina. The  Dutch  con- 
gregation in  New  York 
reached  out  a  hand  to  their  destitute  German  breth- 
ren. As  far  as  in  them  lay,  and  with  as  close  sympa- 
thy as  the  state  of  the  country  permitted,  there  was  co- 
operation between  these  sporadic  Lutheran  beginnings. 


TRINITY  E.  L.  CHURCH,  LANCASTER,  PA. 


The   Church  of  the  Dispersion.  219 

With  almost  superhuman  labors  and  hardships  minis- 
ters traveled  from  one  field  to  another,  most  of  them 
able  to  preach  in  Dutch,  German,  Swedish  and  Eng- 
lish. But  it  was  like  throwing  an  occasional  crumb  to 
souls  at  the  point  of  starvation.  Irregular  services 
at  loner  intervals  are  little  better  than  none.  The 
ministrations  are  too  limited  and  too  hasty  to  leave 
permanent  impressions.  The  life  of  a  Christian  so- 
ciety cannot  be  maintained  by  a  casual  religious  serv- 
ice. No  church  can  be  established  without  constant 
pastoral  oversight.  No  flock  can  be  folded  unless  it 
be  regularly  fed  and  watched  and  tended. 

It  suesrests  a  miracle  when  we  read  of  one  conore- 
gation  that  survived  although  the  Lord's  Supper  had 
not  been  administered  in  it  for  eight  years.  What 
progress  was  possible  in  a  case  like  that  of  Newberg 
on  the  Hudson,  whose  contract  with  the  pastor  stipu- 
lates :  "We  do  call,  constitute  and  receive  Mr.  Wm. 
Christopher  Berkenmeier,  for  our  lawful  teacher  of  the 
parish  of  Quassaic,  to  minister  unto  us  twice  a  year,  as 
well  in  the  preachingof  the  Holy  Gospel  purely  accord- 
ing to  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  the  Symbolical  Books 
of  our  Lutheran  Church,  as  in  administering  the  Holy 
Sacraments  according  to  Christ's  institution,  and 
practicing  the  usual  ceremonies  of  the  fellow-believers 
of  the   unalterable    Confession    of  Auo-sbur£."     The 

o  o 

purest  doctrine  and  the  most  complete  sacramental 
service  twice  a  year  would  hardly  be  adequate  for  the 
building  up  of  a  live  and  vigorous  Christian  congre- 
gation. Effective  organization  under  such  circum- 
stances was  impossible.  With  others  the  situation 
was  still  more  forlorn.     They  did   not  for  years  have 


220  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

a  single  service.  The  children  grew  up  in  ignorance, 
except  where  parents  of  extraordinary  piety  would 
instruct  them  in  the  way  of  salvation.  Whole  families 
in  orreat  numbers  were  left  without  baptism  or  relig- 
ious teaching.  Many  moved  to  and  fro  in  the  hope 
of  having  the  advantages  of  churches  and  schools. 

Besides  this  absolute  lack  of  Christian  institutions 
and  schools,  every  outward  circumstance  and  influ- 
ence, as  is  the  case  in  frontier  life  to-day,  was  unfa- 
vorable to  morality  and  religion.  Where  such  bul- 
warks as  the  church  and  school  are  wanting,  the  forces 
of  evil  are  sure  to  become  bold  and  aggressive,  and 
irreligion  and  immorality  overgrow  the  neglected  and 
uncultivated  soil.  Because  of  abounding  iniquity  the 
love  of  many  waxed  cold.  Childhood's  instructions 
were  forgotten,  the  hold  of  ancestral  traditions  and 
influences  was  weakened,  faith  for  the  want  of  nourish- 
ment languished,  and  many  of  the  lost  sheep  of  the 
house  of  Israel,  wandering  and  forlorn,  fell  a  prey  to 
devouring  worldliness  and  ungodliness.  Among  the 
Palatines  in  particular  there  was  a  sad  declension  in 
spiritual  life,  and  numbers  became  indifferent  to  relig- 
ious principles.  In  the  absence  of  the  Church  and 
the  Gospel  the  knowledge  of  God  faded  from  their 
minds. 

On  others  the  severe  trials  to  which  they  were  ex- 
posed and  the  sorely  felt  spiritual  privations  which 
they  endured,  wrought  out  a  very  different  result. 
Some  had  been  so  deeply  rooted  and  grounded  in  the 
doctrines  and  experience  of  the  Gospel,  that  the  very 
extremity  of  their  distress  only  revealed  to  them  the 
preciousness  of  their  faith  and  begot  in  them  the  pur- 


TJie  Church  of  the  Dispersion.  221 

pose  of  transmitting  it  uncorrupted  to  their  children. 
They  had  not  suffered  in  their  native  land  the  loss  of 
all  things  for  their  holy  religion,  now  to  despise  its 
precepts  or  its  principles  in  the  land  of  their  exile. 
The  consciousness  of  their  salvation  in  Christ,  which 
sustained  them  under  the  horrors  of  persecution, 
nerved  and  cheered  them  in  their  poverty  and  strug- 
gles where  no  one  molested  them  for  conscience'  sake. 

They  were  mighty,  in  the  Scriptures.  They  had  a 
daily  preacher  in  the  large  quarto  of  Arndt's  "True 
Christianity."  They  could  enliven  their  daily  toil 
with  the  songs  of  salvation.  They  turned  their  rude 
homes  into  a  joyful  Bethel. 

A  people  grounded  like  the  Salzburgers  in  the  faith 
of  the  Gospel,  who,  amid  the  most  cruel  outrages  of 
persecution,  were  ever  occupied  with  thanksgiving, 
praises  and  prayer;  whose  glowing  earnestness  and 
spiritual  joy  so  melted  the  heart  of  Germany  that 
their  passage  through  the  country  was  welcomed  as 
the  medium  for  the  regeneration  of  its  formalistic 
and  dead  churches ;  who,  as  they  passed  down  the 
Rhine  "between  the  castled  crags,  the  vineyards  and 
the  white-walled  towns  that  adorn  its  banks,  con- 
versed amid  hymns  and  psalms,  of  justification,"  were 
not  in  serious  danger  now  of  departing  from  the  liv- 
ing God. 

The  fire  upon  the  altar  was  kept  burning  so 
brightly,  and  it  received  such  nourishment  from  the 
study  of  God's  Word  and  the  use  of  devotional  manu- 
als at  the  fireside,  and  from  the  public  services  con- 
ducted by  the  laity  in  many  localities,  that  the  cold 
winds  of  adversity  only  heightened  and  strengthened 


222  The  Lutherans  ?n  America. 

the  flames.  The  dreary  and  cheerless  forests  of 
Pennsylvania  were  lighted  up  and  warmed  by  the 
sunbeams  of  the  Gospel  and  the  fervor  of  Lutheran 
Pietism. 

Such  spiritural  nutriment  as  they  enjoyed  but  deep- 
ened the  craving  for  a  fuller  supply.  The  imper- 
fect administration  of  divine  service,  the  very  oc- 
casional delivery  of  a  sermon  by  a  preacher  from  a 
remote  locality,  by  one  who  was  perhaps  an  utter 
stranger  to  them  and  to  the  very  Gospel  he  pro- 
claimed, kindled  in  them  an  ardent  craving  for  the 
stated  enjoyment  of  the  sanctuary,  the  full  fellow- 
ship of  their  church,  and  the  regular  dispensation 
of  God's  pure  Word  and  the  holy  sacraments  by  resi- 
dent pastors.  And  they  knew  whence  to  look  for 
help.  In  their  distress  they  called  upon  the  Lord. 
And  they  persisted  in  their  prayers  with  a  confidence 
that  is  sure  of  being  ultimately  heard. 

But  the  preachers  of  the  Word,  though  receiving 
their  commission  from  Heaven,  never  fall  from  the 
skies.  To  organize  congregations,  build  churches  and 
maintain  Christian  schools,  ministers  are  indispensa- 
ble. To  raise  up  ministers  here  in  advance  of  Semi- 
naries or  Professors  for  their  training-,  and  where  the 
people  were  absolutely  without  means  either  to  found 
the  Seminaries  or  maintain  their  instructors,  was  sim- 
ply impossible. 

In  the  meanwhile,  with  nothing  in  the  nature  of 
pastoral  care,  with  no  one  to  direct  or  defend  them, 
the  very  fervor  of  their  piety  exposed  these  colonial 
Lutherans  to  the  greatest  spiritual  danger.  Their 
eager  hunger  for  the  Word  prompted  them  to  run  for 


The  Church  of  the  Dispersion.  223 

it  where  it  had  been  poisoned  by  heresy  and  fanat- 
icism, or  to  accept  it  from  polluted  hands.  "Where- 
soever the  body  is,  thither  will  the  eagles  be  gathered 
together."  Sectists  and  impostors  know  their  prey, 
and  they  know,  too,  their  opportunity.  Given,  a 
body  of  earnest  Christian  people,  disorganized,  scat- 
tered over  vast  reaches  of  country,  famishing  for  the 
bread  of  life  and  weary  with  toil  and  privation,  and 
the  cunning  of  the  fox  and  the  rapacity  of  the  wolf 
offer  but  a  feeble  comparison  for  the  craft  and  avidity 
with  which  these  pounce  upon  their  victims.  One  of 
the  strongest  features  which  marked  the  early  colo- 
nial history  of  America  was  that  the  land  was  swarm- 
ing with  "innumerable  sects."  "There  is  not  a  sect 
in  the  world  which  is  not  fostered  here,"  wrote  a  faith- 
ful observer.  This  was  particularly  true  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, which  was  not  only  founded  by  a  fanatic,  but 
which  was  avowedly  and  consistently  established  as  a 
home  for  the  unconditioned  and  illimitable  freedom 
of  all  sects,  opinions  and  parties — a  liberty  which  in 
our  day  is  celebrated  as  the  ideal  state  of  society,  but 
for  which  the  people  of  that  day,  after  enduring  for 
ages  the  restraints  of  force  and  authority,  were  as  lit- 
tle prepared  as  was  the  French  nation  in  1789  for  the 
free  institutions  of  a  Republic.  While,  therefore,  it 
is  the  fashion  to  laud  the  principles  of  tolerance 
which  prevailed  throughout  the  province  of  the 
famous  Quaker,  it  serves  on  the  other  hand  as  a  dark 
background,  putting  in  strong  relief  the  terrible  havoc 
produced  in  the  Lutheran  and  other  churches  by  the 
rage  of  rampant  and  reckless  fanaticism.  Teaching 
things  which  they   ought  not,   perverting  the  way  of 


224  The  Lutherans   in  America. 

life,  routing'  up  the  saving  doctrines  of  grace,  clothing 
error  in  the  garb  of  sanctimoniousness  so  as  to 
seduce  the  simple-minded  —  they  not  only  "sub- 
verted whole  houses,"  but  large  communities,  mislead- 
ing the  unwary,  confounding  the  unstable,  and  wrest- 
ing the  Scriptures  to  the  destruction  of  many  souls. 

What  the  wild  beast  of  the  field  did  not  devour 
was  wasted  by  the  boar  out  of  the  wood.  The 
absence  of  true  pastors,  faithful  shepherds  who  give 
their  life  for  the  flock,  furnished  the  opportunity  for 
the  thief  and  the  robber,  who  for  filthy  lucre's  sake 
usurp  the  sacred  office.  With  the  melancholy  and 
protracted  dearth  of  men  properly  fitted  for  the  min- 
istry and  regularly  ordained,  we  need  not  wonder 
that  the  land  was  overrun  with  clerical  vagabonds, 
irresponsible  and  wretched  pretenders,  crafty  impos- 
tors, ignorant  schoolmasters,  persons  who  for  scandal- 
ous crimes  had  been  deposed  from  the  office  in  Eu- 
rope, and  others,  who,  without  any  concern  for  the 
salvation  of  souls,  intruded  themselves  into  this  call- 
ins'  from  the  vilest  motives,  creatine  disturbance  and 
confusion  among  the  simple-minded  and  confiding 
people,  and  spreading  havoc  and  desolation  every- 
where. Instead  of  oratherincr  together  and  strength- 
ening  what  they  found,  they  only  tore  asunder  and 
scattered  such  organizations  as  had  been  formed,  and 
by  their  scandalous  lives  they  brought  such  reproach 
upon  the  Lutheran  name  as  to  delay — indefinitely,  in 
many  communities — the  practicability  of  establishing 
the  Church.  In  some  cases,  as  the  last  of  a  lone  series 
of  calamities,  these  wily  and  wicked  impostors  entered 


The  Church  of  the  Dispersion.  225 

in  where  disorder   and   confusion   already  prevailed, 
and  so  made  that  disorder  and  confusion  absolute. 

One  of  the  earliest  documents  on  Lutheran  history 
in  this  country  contains  the  following  melancholy 
passage  :  "  From  the  very  beginning  of  this  century 
(the  eighteenth),  and  even  until  the  present  day,  it 
has  been  the  misfortune  of  Pennsylvania  that  many 
men  who  had  never  studied  at  all,  or  who  had  never 
had  any  thorough  instruction  in  Christianity  and 
science,  or  who,  even  having  once  occupied  the  pas- 
toral office  in  Germany,  were  deposed  and  thrust  out 
for  their  bad  conduct,  resorted  to  that  fine  country,  and 
by  flattering  speeches  and  insinuating  ways  imposed 
upon  private  persons  and  even  whole  congregations, 
and  so  stole  into  the  office  of  pastor.  It  is  easy  to 
see  what  a  miserable  service  must  be  rendered  to 
souls  by  men  who  seek  only  their  own  profit,  and  who, 
as  soon  as  greater  gains  invite  them  elsewhere,  at 
once  forsake  the  congregation  they  had  professed  to 
serve.  Such  hirelings  have  spread  great  disorder," 
etc.  (Halle  Reports).  And  another  historian,  Rev. 
C.  W.  Schaeffer,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  observes:  "The  Luth- 
eran faith  was  exposed  to  reproach  by  the  infamy  of 
those  who  had  forced  themselves — uncalled  and  un- 
qualified—  into  the  pastoral  office;  and  reflecting 
minds  and  believing  hearts  both  saw  and  felt  that 
what  ought  to  be  done  must  be  done  quickly." 

In  the  depth  of  their  distress  they  not  only  made 
supplication  to  the  Lord,  but  a  piercing  cry  for  help 
went  across  the  waters.  They  pleaded  most  earnestly 
that  faithful  and  suitable  pastors  and  teachers  for 
themselves  and  their  children  might  be  sent  over,  and 


The  Church  of  the  Dispersion.  227 

in  most  moving-  terms  laid  before  their  friends  in  the 
fatherland  the  lamentable  spiritual  condition  of  the 
people  in  this  country.  They  sighed  for  deliverance 
from  the  wretched  impostors  who  were  laying  waste 
the  congregations,  from  the  scheming  fanatics  who 
were  alluring  the  unwary  and  the  unstable  into  the 
pitfalls  of  error,  and  from  the  strife  and  distraction 
which  are  so  natural  and  so  destructive  to  a  people 
without  leaders  and  without  proper  organization. 
Letters  of  this  kind  were  despatched,  from  time  to 
time,  by  different  parties  to  Holland,  to  Hamburg  and 
elsewhere.  Dr.  Ziegenhagen,  writing  in  1734,  concern- 
ing the  Lutherans  in  America,  says  ;  "It  is,  alas!  too 
true  that  the  Evaneelical  churches  scattered  here  and 
there  in  America,  especially  in  Virginia,  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania,  etc.,  (American  Geography  was  then  in 
its  infancy),  are  in  a  very  deplorable  conditition,  par- 
ticularly in  regard  to  the  Word  of  God  and  the  Holy 
Sacraments,  and  such  appointments  as  are  necessary 
for  proper  instruction  in  the  Divine  Word  and  the 
right  administration  of  the  Sacraments.  I  have  re- 
ceived many  mournful  communications  from  several 
of  these  churches,  in  which  they  make  the  most  touch- 
ing appeals  for  Bibles,  Prayer-books,  Catechisms,  Pas- 
tors and  other  tokens  of  our  Christian  sympathy. 
They  even  assert  that  in  consequence  of  the  great  lack 
of  the  means  of  grace  there  is  danger  that  they  and 
their  children  may  relapse  into  heathenism.  I  am 
greatly  distressed  for  the  reason  that  I  hardly  know 
what  to  do  by  way  of  relief." 

Aye,  there  was  the  rub  !  what  to  do  by  way  of  relief. 
Here  was  required  wisdom,  a  knowledge  of  men,  and 


228  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

a  knowledge  of  the  real  condition  of  America.  Organ- 
ization  was  needed,  system,  authority.  Who  was  to 
be  sent?  and  who  could  say  to  this  one,  "go,  and  he 
goeth,  and  to  another  come,  and  he  cometh?"  There 
were  imploring  letters,  urgent  appeals,  voluminous  cor- 
respondence which  required  months  to  pass  over  the 
sea  and  then  was  often  overshadowed  by  distrust  and 
personal  ignorance  between  the  correspondents — but 
how  under  such  circumstances  could  deliverance  be 
sent  to  the  children  of  Israel,  groaning  in  Egyptian 
darkness  if  not  in  Egyptian  bondage?  Thus,  only  to 
add  another  chapter  to  the  story  of  their  distress,  it 
need  not  be  wondered  at  that  once  and  again  men 
were  sent  over  who  were  either  wholly  unadapted  to 
the  peculiar  needs  of  these  churches,  or  who,  so  far 
from  building  up  the  feeble  congregations,  did  much 
to  destroy  and  exterminate  them — to  extinguish  what 
was  ready  to  die. 

An  example  of  the  former  class  was  the  Rev.  Mich- 
ael Christian  Knoll,  whom  the  Lutheran  ministers  of 
London  ordained  as  a  successor  to  Rev.  Berkenmeier 
in  the  churches  at  New  York  and  Hackensack,  a  man 
who  neither  personally  nor  as  preacher  could  com- 
mand respect,  and  under  whose  ministry  the  congre- 
gations gradually  dwindled  away.  A  sorry  example 
of  the  latter  class  was  Magister  August  Wolf,  who 
was  sent  by  the  Ministerium  of  Hamburg  to  the  Rari- 
tan  churches  in  New  Jersey.  A  regular  blank  call  for 
a  pastor  was  made  out  by  these  congregations,  and, 
along  with  money  for  his  passage,  forwarded  through 
the  kind  offices  of  Berkenmeier,  leaving  the  selection 
of  a  "  German  Studiosus  theologian  "  to  this  body. 


The  Church  of  the  Dispersion.  229 

"A  more  unsuitable  individual  could  not  have  been 
palmed  off  upon  the  Raritan  congregations.  Of  his 
orthodoxy  there  was  no  doubt.  He  had  not  even  the 
faintest  semblance  of  Halle  Pietism,  so  much  abhorred 
by  the  adherents  of  the  orthodox  party,  to  which  in 
these  times  the  Hamburg  ministry,  and  on  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic  William  Christopher  Berkenmeier  and 
Michael.  Christopher  Knoll  belonged."  He  is  credi- 
ted with  fine  classical  and  literary  attainments.  His 
congregations  received  him  with  joy  and  the  most 
kindly  prepossession,  only  to  experience  more  keenly 
the  bitterness  of  disappointment  and  the  ruination  of 
the  church.  Capricious,  conceited,  arbitrary  and  un- 
principled, he  was  positively  without  any  gifts  or  char- 
acter for  the  ministerial,  office.  The  first  shock  his 
conduct  gave  the  people  was  the  close  reading  of  his 
sermon  from  manuscript,  a  practice  of  which  they  had 
possibly  never  heard,  but  they  contrived  to  bear  with 
this  because  he  claimed  to  have  lost  his  memory  dur- 
ing the  voyage  across  the  ocean,  although  he  at  the 
same  time  gave  them  to  understand  that  he  considered 
read  sermons  good  enough  for  such  rustics.  An  inju- 
dicious marriage  soon  brought  him  into  discredit,  and 
the  brutal  maltreatment  of  his  wife,  a  divorce  from  her 
by  the  civil  courts,  and  other  scandalous  procedures 
made  his  further  pastoral  ministrations  insufferable. 
But  he  had  recourse  to  the  civil  magistrate,  and  for 
ten  or  more  years  kept  harrowing  these  people  before 
the  courts,  and  compelling  them  to  pay  him  the  salary 
for  which  they  had  contracted — to  pay  him,  in  fact,  for 
the  misery  which  he  had  brought  upon  them  and  for 
the   approximate   annihilation   of   the   congregations. 


230 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


H 


The  result  of  this  ministerial  adventure  is  set  down 
as  follows :  The  sacred  office  was  brought  into  re- 
proach, the  Sacraments  were  no  longer  observed,  there 
was  no  instruction  of  youth,  no  pastoral  care  for  the 
sick,  the  congregations  were  dispersed,  their  members 
reduced  to  a  few  families,  and  their  general  devasta- 
tion was  so  noised  abroad  over  the  land  that  it  be- 
came a  by-word  and  a  proverb,  even  a  street  song,  in 
every  German  community. 

Worse  and  worse,  more  and  more  wretched  grows 
the  condition  of  the  Lu- 
theran  Churc h — if  a 
church  it  may  be  called — 
at  this  time.  Lutherans 
were  here  —  a  multitude 
o  f  them — b  u  t,  properly 
speaking,  this  great  and 
dispersed  mass  did  not 
constitute  a  Lutheran 
Church.  There  was  no 
organism.  The  church 
was   void    and   without 

r  ill  i  i      WARTBURG    COLLEGE,   WAVERLY,    IOWA. 

form,  and  darkness  brood- 
ed over  the  chaotic  elements ;  and  the  darkness  was 
steadily  deepening,  and  to  many  it  was  verging  on 
despair.  Deliverance  seemed  impossible.  A  prey  to 
fanatics,  a  prey  to  false  brethren,  a  prey  to  strife  and 
distraction  among  themselves,  these  Lutheran  sheep, 
widely  scattered  and  wofully  straitened,  were  "  helpless 
and  sick  and  ready  to  die."  Destitute  of  all  spiritual 
care  and  protection,  with  no  bond  of  union  between 
them   for   mutual   strength  and  support,  and  with   no 


The   Church  of  tJic  Dispersion.  231 

ecclesiastical  connection  with  the  fatherland  to  yield 
them  relief,  the  wild  beasts  that  prowled  round  their 
dwellings  and  the  savage  Indians  ever  lurking  in  am- 
bush to  butcher  the  white  intruder,  were  but  the 
symbolic  figures  of  a  more  deadly  foe —  the  arch- 
adversary  who  compasses  the  camp  of  the  saints,  and 
whose  prey  is  the  Church  of  the  living  God.  Surely, 
arguing  from  human  premises,  men  must  have  con- 
cluded that  the  Lutheran  Church  could  have  no  field, 
no  mission,  no  history  in  America. 

But  is  it  not  always  the  darkest  hour  before  the 
dawn  ?  Is  not  the  very  brooding  of  the  darkness  over 
the  face  of  the  deep  the  pledge  of  a  coming  world  ? 
Does  not  the  night  always  precede  the  day?  Has  any 
good  cause  ever  been  founded  except  through  great 
tribulations?  Is  not  the  cross  the  emblem  of  Christ's 
Church,  and  have  the  disciples  such  an  advantage 
over  the  Master  that  they  can  attain  the  crown  with- 
out the  endurance  of  suffering  and  shame?  Has 
God  ever  granted  victory  to  his  people  before  he  has 
made  them  submit  to  the  fiery  trial  of  their  faith  and 
the  testing  of  their  character  by  placing  them  for  a 
season  "in  heaviness  through  manitold  temptations?" 
Has  our  Lord's  fasting  for  forty  days  and  forty  nights 
no  significance  or  suggestion  for  his  Church  ?  Must 
the  forty  years'  wandering  through  the  desert  by 
God's  chosen  race  be  divested  of  its  lesson  for  all 
who  walk  by  faith,  though  we  are  so  clearly  told  that 
all  these  things  happened  unto  them  for  types,  and 
that  "they  are  written  for  our  admonition?"  "Be- 
loved, think  it  not  strange  concerning  the  fiery  trial 
which  is  to  try  you,  as  though  some  strange  thing  hap- 


232  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

pened  unto  you.      But  rejoice,  inasmuch  as  ye  are  par- 
takers of  Christ's  sufferings." 

The  God  of  Luther  was  still  alive — the  Hearer  of 
prayer  was  still  on  the  eternal  throne.  His  interposi- 
tion was  long  delayed ;  it  always  is,  in  our  view. 
"Gottes  Miihlen  mahlen  langsam."  But  his  counsels 
were  ripening.  A  great  and  glorious  church  was  to 
overspread  this  land  with  the  faith  of  the  Reformer 
and  the  priceless  and  uncorrupted  treasures  of  the 
Reformation,  but  her  birth  in  the  New  World,  like  her 
birth  in  the  old,  must  be  amid  pains  and  anguish  and 
travail,  through  a  long  night  of  sorrow  and  gloom. 
The  morning  was  sure  to  come.  Beyond  the  dark- 
ness faith  descried  the  glimmer  of  a  better  day,  A 
new  epoch  was  at  hand. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

MUHLENBERG    AND    HIS    COLLEAGUES. 

THE  faith  of  Luther  animated  many  of  his  sorely- 
tried  spiritual  children  in  the  New  World.  A 
faithful  God,  they  felt  assured,  could  not  forsake 
them  in  their  deep  distress.  And  they  waited  patient- 
ly for  his  salvation.  Yet  they  must  bestir  themselves. 
Many  who  were  pining  for  the  ordinances  and  minis- 
trations of  their  Church,  and  praying  with  many  tears 
that  God  would  awaken  in  the  hearts  of  their  Euro- 
pean brethren  an  interest  in  their  condition,  felt  moved 
also  to  leave  nothing  undone  to  brino-  their  destitution 
before  the  eyes  of  those  brethren. 

Their  repeated  letters,  however  urgent  and  affecting 
had  proved  unavailing.  No  letter  or  number  of  letters 
could  properly  or  adequately  describe  their  spiritual 
misery.  The  results  of  their  correspondence  were 
totally  unsatisfactory.  Ministers  who  came  over  osten- 
sibly in  response  to  these  piteous  appeals,  and  who 
were  welcomed  as  servants  of  God  come  to  advance 
the  interests  of  the  Church,  had  turned  out  to  be  in 
reality  its  destroyers. 

Some  of  the  people  finally  determined  that  a  living 
delegation  should  personally  represent  to  influential 
Lutheran  divines  in  Europe  the  extremity  of  their  needs, 
and  by  travelling  aboutexcitegeneral  sympathy  in  their 
behalf,  solicit  contributions  towards  the  erection  of 
church  buildings  and  school-houses,  and  especially  seek 
for  a  proper  and  competent  man  for  the  pastoral  office 


234  TJie  Lutherans  in  America. 

and  teachers  for  the  instruction  of  the  young.  This  ac- 
tion was  taken  in  the  year  1733  by  the  congregation  of 
Philadelphia  conjointly  with  that  at  New  Providence 
and  the  one  at  New  Hanover,  or  Falckner's  Swamp 
situated  respectively  some  twenty  miles  from  Philadel- 
phia. 

The  latter  congregation  was  founded  by  Pastor 
Falckner  in  1703.  He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Gerhard 
Henkel  and  after  him  the  neighboring  Swedish  clergy 
occasionally  preached  there  and  rendered  pastoral  ser- 
vices. At  Philadelphia  Pastor  Fabricius  while  serving 
the  Swedish  Churches  preached  in  the  years  1 688-1 691 
also  for  the  German  Lutherans,  who  appear,  however, 
at  that  day  to  have  had  neither  church-building  nor 
organization,  and  held  their  worship  for  a  long  time 
in  the  Swedish  Church  at  an  early  hour.  In  1734 
Lutherans  and  Reformed  conjointly  rented  for  \£  "a 
weatherboarded  house  "  for  the  use  of  divine  worship — 
the  first  instance  probably  of  a  Union  Church.  The 
first  trace  of  Lutheran  services  at  New  Providence 
(The  Trappe)  is  in  1732,  when  a  certain  John 
Christian  Schultz  officiated  there  and  at  New  Han- 
over and  Philadelphia.  There  is  no  proof  that  he  was 
an  ordained  clergyman,  yet  he  proceeded  to  grant 
ordination  in  1733  to  John  Caspar  Stoever,  the  cere- 
mony being  conducted  in  a  barn  which  served  for  many 
years  as  a  Bethel.  The  organization  of  a  congregation 
with  constitution  and  officers  dates  doubtless  from  the 
year  1733. 

These  congregations,  two  of  but  recent  organiza- 
tion, and  said  to  embrace  each  500  families,  more  or 
less,  "  having  joined  together  in  the  name  of  God  and 


Muhlenberg  and  his  Colleagues.  235 

with  prayer  for  his  gracious  help,"  felt  constrained  to 
commission  two  of  their  number,  Daniel  Weisiger  and 
Johann  Daniel  Schemer,  accompanied  by  the  above 
named  Schultz,  to  plead  their  cause  with  the 
Lutherans    of   Europe. 

The  oral  representations,  which  this  deputation  was 
to  make  abroad,  were  supported  by  an  open  letter  in 
which  it  was  shown  that  the  condition  of  the  people 
was  in  the  highest  degree  deplorable,  that  they  were 
"in  a  land  full  of  sects  and  heresy,  without  ministers 
and  teachers,  schools,  churches  and  books,"  and  that 
their  children  and  descendants  were  in  danger  of  slid- 
ing- back  into  heathenism.  It  contained  entreaties  for 
help  in  the  propagation  of  "the  pure  Evangelical 
doctrine,  seeing  that  upon  this  depends  the  salvation 
of  so  many  souls,"  and  closed  with  the  prayer  that  "  in 
America  also,  by  the  preaching  of  the  Word  of  God, 
the  way  of  life  may  be  made  plain  to  those  who  con- 
fess the  Christian  faith  ;  and  also,  by  that  Grace  which 
extends  towards  all  men,  be  opened  up  to  the  heathen 
tribes  who  occupy  the  land.  May  He  the  Good  Shep- 
herd, who  is  not  willing  that  any  should  perish, 
graciously  watch  over  his  poor  forsaken  sheep  whether 
among  Christians  or  heathen,  and  all  for  his  love  and 
mercy's  sake.     Hallelujah  !  " 

The  commissioners  made  their  way  first  of  all  to 
Dr.  Ziegenhagen,  Court-preacher  in  London,  who 
furnished  them  with  letters  of  recommendation 
especially  to  Halle,  that  focus  of  spiritual  influence,  the 
fires  of  whose  altar  were  just  then  rekindling  and  reani- 
mating a  formal  Christianity,  some  6000  of  its 
preachers  having  already  borne  the    flames  of  living 


2 2,6  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

piety  into  as  many  congregations.  The  first  to  inaugu- 
rate the  work  of  heathen  missions  and  the  diffusion  of 
the  Scriptures,  pietistic  Halle  was  now  destined  to 
become  the  fountain  of  unspeakable  blesssings  to 
America,  the  agency  for  establishing  over  that  new  and 
vast  domain  what  it  had  re-awakened  in  Germany,  a 
church  in  which  pure  doctrine  and  holy  living,  ortho- 
dox faith  and  evangelical  piety  should  blend  and  har- 
moniously reflect  the  glory  of  the  Gospel. 

It  was  well,  perchance,  that  the  proper  organization 
of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this  country  was  deferred 
until  its  foundation  could  be  laid  by  men  who  were 
reared  in  the  school  of  Pietism,  and  who  had  become 
grounded  in  the  true  faith  and  at  the  same  time  imbued 
with  its  glowing  zeal  and  its  practical  activity.  For 
although  Lutherans  had  been  for  a  century  found  in 
considerable  numbers,  it  cannot  be  said  that  outside 
of  the  Swedish  Churches  there  had  been  up  to  this 
time  any  definite  organism  or  any  real  progress. 

The  representation  of  the  condition  of  the  Lutherans 
of  America  made  a  deep  impression  at  Halle,  where 
Dr.  Gotthelf  August  Francke,  "atypical  representative 
of  Pietism  in  its  first  and  purer  form,"  who  in  relig- 
ious earnestness  and  practical  talents  was  a  worthy 
son  of  his  renowned  father,  Augustus  Herman  Francke, 
now  stood  at  the  head  of  the  university  and  its  affili- 
ated benevolent  institutions.  Of  one  mind  with  Ziehen- 
hagen,  he  was  ready  at  once  to  co-operate  in  mea- 
sures for  the  relief  of  their  distressed  brethren.  His 
services  to  this  end  proved  of  inestimable  advantage  to 
the  Lutheran  Church  in  America.  It  was  in  accord- 
ance with  eternal  fitness  when,  on  the  occasion  of  the 


Muhlenberg  and  his  Colleagues. 


237 


first  Jubilee  of  the  Halle  Institutions  in  1748,  Francke 
felt  constrained  to  commemorate  among  other  things 
the  great  blessings  which  proceeding  from  Halle 
had  "so  richly  refreshed  the  Lutheran  congregations 
in  North  America."  "The  Lutheran  Church  of  the 
New  World,"  says  Dr.  Mann,  "owes  its  best  support 
in  external  means  and  spiritual  forces  in  the  last  cen- 
tury, to  the   men  of   the   Franckean  Institutions,  the 


THE  OLD  TRAPPE  CHURCH,  NEAR  PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 
(Dedicated  October  6th,  1745.) 

Hallean  Pietists.  It  was  apparently  a  small  force  but 
its  efficacy  continues  to  this  day."  And  Halle,  after 
many  years,  saw  the  bread  which  it  had  so  generously 
cast  upon  the  American  waters,  floating  back  to  its 
source,  returning  to  revive  and  strengthen  its  institu- 
tions in  the  timeof  their  distress.  During  thedevastat- 
ing  wars  of  Napoleon  these  institutions  were  almost 
wholly  destroyed,  and  in  response  to  the  appeal  of 
their    directors    the    American    churches   which    had 


238  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

been  founded  by  the  Halle  missionaries  forwarded  to 
them  liberal  pecuniary  aid. 

While  Halle  at  once  became  and  ever  after  re- 
mained the  center  for  affording  succor  to  America, 
many  people  in  all  parts  of  the  fatherland  were  deeply 
moved  as  they  learned  of  the  affliction  of  Joseph.  A 
widespread  sympathy  was  excited  which  took  the  form 
of  generous  contributions  for  the  erection  of  church- 
buildings  and  schools  and  for  the  support  of  pastors, 
to  which  were  added,  of  course,  many  Bibles  and 
other  devotional  manuals.  Encouraged  by  the  ap- 
probation and  patronage  of  Halle,  "they  met  with 
warm  hearts  and  fervent  prayers  and  material  aid 
everywhere." 

But  above  all  things  was  this  commission  charged 
to  procure  a  true  and  faithful  pastor.  This  was  the 
matter  of  greatest  solicitude.  This  was  the  critical 
and  pivotal  feature  of  the  situation.  In  gathering 
material  supplies  for  the  aid  of  congregations  little 
discrimination  is  required,  and  funds  may  be  col- 
lected with  the  dispatch  demanded  by  the  urgency  of 
those  who  are  crying  for  aid,  but  when  a  personality 
is  required,  a  leader,  and  a  ruler,  only  one  in  a  thous- 
and may  possess  the  requisite  qualifications.  Dr. 
Franckewith  the  warmest  sympathy  for  these  destitute 
congregations  in  Pennsylvania, and  prepared  from  love 
to  God  and  his  Word  to  do  the  utmost  in  his  power, 
had  likewise  a  clear,  practical  discernment  of  the  pe- 
culiar requirements  of  such  a  field,  the  appalling  diffi- 
culties by  which  it  was  beset  and  the  great  lack  of 
persons  whose  training  and  individuality  would  com- 


Muhlenberg  and  his  Colleagues.  239 

mend  them  for  the  position.     He  exercised,  therefore, 
the  greatest  caution. 

The  Lutheran  churches  in  Germany  had  at  the  time 
no  dearth  of  ministers,  some  of  whom  it  could  have 
spared  to  the  feeble  flock  this  side  the  Atlantic.  There 
were  numerous  candidates  ready  to  receive  appoint- 
ments, and  there  were  doubtless  some  whose  studies 
had  not  been  completed,  who  would  gladly  have 
accepted  a  commission  to  travel  to  America  and 
try  their  gifts  and  their  fortunes  here.  But  there 
must  be  no  experiments  where  Christ's  cause  is  at 
stake.  The  policy  of  putting  up  with  anything  had 
been  sufficiently  tried.  There  must  be  no  more  dis- 
appointments, no  more  mistakes,  such  as  had  already 
overwhelmed  these  struggling  churches  with  disaster 
and  brought  dishonor  on  the  Lutheran  name.  "  We 
are  willing,"  writes  Francke,  in  1734,  "to  co-operate 
according  to  our  ability  and  with  God's  grace,"  but 
whatever  is  undertaken,  he  maintained,  must  be  done 
intelligently  and  wisely,  with  mutual  understanding 
and  pledges,  and  upon  a  firm  and  sure  foundation. 

A  formal  request  was  accordingly  forwarded  to 
the  congregations  to  communicate  the  fullest  inform- 
ation on  all  particulars.  Assurances  must  be  given 
that  the  minister  or  ministers  sent  would  be  accorded 
becoming  reverence  and  submission.  Proper  order 
must  be  observed  in  every  particular.  The  clergy- 
man suited  for  this  work  must  be  a  man  of  ripe  ex- 
perience, of  sound  judgment,  of  executive  capacity, 
"a  man  of  solid  commanding  character,  and  one  who 
could  be  depended  on  to  do  his  utmost  in  labor  and 
sacrifice  for  the  welfare  of  the  churches  and  the  youth 


240  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

committed  to  his  charge."  Such  a  person,  again, 
must  receive  ordination  in  Germany  and  as  a  pre- 
requisite— according  to  "Lutheran  usage,  a  regular 
and  formal  call  must  be  made  out  for  him  by  the 
churches  seeking  his  services,  a  call  accompanied  by 
pledges  not  only  of  financial  support  distinctly  speci- 
fied, and  to  be  paid  in  current  funds  and  promptly, 
but  also  of  that  love  and  submission  which  are  due 
to  the  sacred  office.  It  was  further  required  of  these 
congregations  "not  to  make  any  unreasonable  de- 
mands upon  the  pastors,  or  such  as  may  be  in  con- 
flict with  the  Word  of  God,  or  with  the  doctrine  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church." 

All  this  involved  a  protracted  correspondence, — a 
correspondence  which  has  been  largely  preserved  in 
Hallische  Nachrichten,  and  which  is  replete  with  affect- 
ing interest  in  bringing  out  the  enlightened  and  delib- 
erative zeal  of  Ziegenhagen  and  Francke,  and  the 
earnest  piety,  the  undaunted  faith,  the  touching  im- 
portunity and  the  sturdy  American  good  sense  of 
these  long-suffering  people.  Weisiger,  "whose  name 
deserves  to  be  held  in  remembrance  for  his  intelligent 
devotion  and  laborious  enterprise  in  behalf  of  the 
church,"  had  to  return  without  a  pastor,  though  not 
without  hope,  and  his  final  appeal  once  more  urged  : 
"Send  us  pastors  who  will  teach  us  and  our  children 
in  the  Word  of  God,  who  will  administer  the  holy  Sac- 
raments in  our  congregations." 

Years  of  waiting  had  thus  to  be  added  to  the  long 
and  gloomy  years  through  which  our  Lutheran  ances- 
tors had  already  passed.  But  they  were  years  of 
prayer  and  of  hope,  supplications  going  up  unto  God 


Muhlenberg  and  his  Colleagues.  241 

not  only  from  the  sorely-tried,  languishing  and  shep- 
herdless  flocks  of  America,  but  also  from  the  warm, 
earnest  and  believing  hearts  of  Germany,  "  that  the 
Lord  Himself  may  designate  the  right  man, — the  man 
who  confiding  in  the  strength  of  the  Almighty,  has  the 
courage  and  capacity  to  gather  together  the  lost  sheep 
of  the  scattered  flock,  and  bring  them  back  to  the 
Great  Shepherd." 

And  He  who  sent  Moses  to  his  people  groaning  in 
Egypt,  who  sent  out  Paul  far  hence  to  the  Gentiles 
sitting  in  darkness,  who  raised  up  Luther  with  the 
hght  of  His  Word  for  those  who  were  watching  for 
the  dawn,  now  also,  in  answer  to  many  prayers,  brought 
forth  a  deliverer  and  an  apostle  for  America,  a  man 
combining  in  himself  to  a  marvellous  extent  the  quali- 
fications indispensable  for  the  work  to  be  accom- 
plished, a  man  deeply  penetrated  by  the  Pietistic 
Spirit,  and  who  as  a  manifest  instrument  of  Provi- 
dence was  destined  to  bijild  from  the  precious,  but 
chaotic  and  scattered  elements,  the  foundations  of  the 
Lutheran  Church,  in  a  new  world. 

His  name  was  Heinrich  Melchior  Muhlenberg.  He 
was  born  at  Eimbeck,  in  Hanover,  on  the  6th  day  of 
September,  1711.  According  to  good  Lutheran  cus- 
tom he  was  baptized  on  the  day  of  his  birth,  and  was 
confirmed  in  his  twelfth  year.  His  early  youth  re- 
vealed liberal  endowments,  thirst  for  knowledge,  in- 
dustrious and  successful  study,  a  predisposition  to 
independence  of  thought,  serious  religious  convictions, 
and  a  benevolent  heart.  Such  was  his  fondness  for 
learning,  that  while  as  a  lad  he  was  engaged  in  some 
ordinary    vocation     he    clandestinely    devoted    every 


242  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

spare  moment  to  his  books  ;  spent  his  evenings  at 
study,  exercised  his  voice,  and  attained  such  pro- 
ficiency from  private  instruction,  that  when  admitted 
to  the  highest  classical  school  of  the  place,  he  took  at 
once  the  front  rank,  and  distinguished  himself  by  his 
rapid  progress  in  Latin,  Greek  and  other  branches. 
By  means  of  beneficiary  aid  and  by  rendering  personal 
services  to  one  of  the  professors  he  was  enabled  to 
obtain  a  thorough  education,  entering  the  University 
of  Gbttingen  in  1735.  His  moral  fibre  and  the  spirit- 
uality of  his  character  he  showed  at  this  stage  by  sur- 
mounting the  temptations  and  perils  of  university 
life,  and  by  choosing  for  his  companions  fellow-stu- 
dents of  a  positively  religious  turn.  Through  these 
he  came  for  the  first  time  into  immediate  contact  with 
the  Pietistic  movement,  experiencing  great  spiritual 
benefits  from  this  association,  and  learning  among 
other  vital  truths,  that  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
is  the  indispensable  prerequisite  for  a  preacher  of  the 
Gospel.  Upon  his  graduation  he  was  happily  ap- 
pointed teacher  in  the  Orphan  House  at  Halle,  and 
thus  came  directly  under  the  influence  of  its  earnest, 
spiritual  and  practical  Christianity.  His  evangelical 
zeal,  his  aptness  in  teaching,  and  his  missionary  ardor 
pointed  him  out  as  a  suitable  man  to  labor  among  the 
heathen,  and  prompted  the  Halle  leaders  to  send  him 
out  to  India. 

But  God  was  reserving  him  for  another  field,  and 
circumstances  accordingly  arose  which  prevented  the 
execution  of  this  plan.  Christopher  Frederick  Schwartz 
was  chosen  for  the  India  Mission,  while  Muhlenberg 
was,  in    the  course  of  a  few  years,  to  follow    the    star 


Muhlenberg  and  his  Colleagues.  243 

of  empire  westward.  In  the  meanwhile  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  Pastorate  of  Gross  Hennersdorf,  in 
Saxony,  a  few  miles  south  of  Herrnhut,  the  head- 
quarters of  Moravianism.  In  the  autumn  of  1739  he 
was  solemnly  ordained  a  minister  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  His  situation  was  not  meant  to  be  enchant- 
ing, and  occasions  for  stirring  up  his  nest  were  not 
wanting.  Finding  himself  one  evening  at  Halle,  the 
guest  of  Francke,  the  latter  at  supper  brought  to  his 
notice  the  subject  of  the  "  Call  to  the  dispersed  Luth- 
erans in  Pennsylvania," and  proposed  to  him  "to  make 
a  trial  of  a  few  years."  Without  any  hesitation  and 
to  the  joy  of  the  Francke  household,  Muhlenberg  re- 
plied, that  if  he  could  see  in  it  the  will  of  God  he 
would  go,  and  that  he  felt  bound  to  go  wherever 
Providence  called  him.  Yielding  to  the  first  impulses 
of  a  heart  loyal  to  Christ,  the  issue  was  at  once  de- 
cided. The  prospect  of  such  an  undertaking  might 
have  dismayed  the  most  heroic  spirit  It  could  be 
easily  foreseen  that  it  was  beset  with  innumerable  ob- 
stacles, hardships  and  perils,  but  so  far  from  being 
appalled  by  these  the  devotion  of  an  apostle  exclaims  : 
"None  of  these  things  move  me,  neither  count  I  my 
life  dear."  And  thus  while  feeling  keenly  the  sepa- 
ration from  his  native  land  and  beloved  friends,  the 
love  of  Christ  and  his  precious  church  prompted  him 
to  surrender  cheerfully  home,  friends,  country,  associ- 
ations, comforts,  studies,  everything  dear  to  nature,  for 
what  was  then  materially  and  morally  a  howling  wil- 
derness. 

That    memorable    scene  at  Francke's  supper  table 
transpired     September    6,     1741.       On     December   9. 


244  The  Ltitherans  in  America. 

Muhlenberg,  "  under  considerable  emotion,"  preached 
his  farewell  sermon,  and  eight  days  later  he  took  his 
departure,  going  out  with  Abraham's  faith,  and  like 
him  not  really  knowing  whither  he  went.  Having 
completed  the  necessary  preparations  for  the  long 
journey,  he  made  his  way  to  London.  His  stay  in  that 
city  was  for  various  reasons  protracted  for  nine  weeks, 
but  this  delay  proved  to  be  very  fortunate.  He  de- 
rived especially  great  spiritual  benefit  from  his  daily 
intercourse  with  Ziegenhagen,  who  received  him  with 
thanks  and   praises   to   God. 

It  was  the  13th  of  June  1742  that  his  vessel  set  sail 
from  Gravesend.  With  a  profound  feeling  of  the 
responsibility  he  had  assumed  and  of  the  difficulties 
he  would  have  to  encounter,  and  with  serious  mis- 
givings about  his  own  ability  for  the  work,  he 
combined  a  strong  and  heroic  faith  by  which  he 
always  committed  himself  implicitly  into  the  hands  of 
the  Lord.  Knowing  that  besides  the  ordinary  perils 
of  the  deep,  the  ship  that  was  bearing  him  was  both 
unseaworthy  and  overloaded,  and  that  she  would 
probably  be  attacked  by  pirates,  he  exclaimed  on 
hearing  a  poor  Salzburger  mother  singing  "  Ein 
feste  Burg":  "that  is  a  better  protection  than  the 
ten  iron  cannon  with  which  the  vessel  is  provided." 

The  passage  to  Charleston,  S.  C.  required  110  days 
and  was  one  of  "  unusual  peril  and  exhaustion."  The 
prophet  on  board  was,  however,  this  time  no  Jonah 
fleeing  from  duty  and  exposing  the  ship  to  danger, 
but  a  most  faithful  servant  of  God  cheerfully  sacrific- 
ing himself  to  the  call  of  duty.  He  proved  not  a 
curse  but  a  blessing  to  his  companions.     The  ship  be- 


Muhlenberg  and  his  Colleagues.  245 

•came  a  church,  his  fellow-passengers,  the  crew  and 
several  negro  slaves,  a  mission  field  for  this  ambassa- 
dor of  the  Cross.  Although  suffering  exceedingly  from 
sea  sickness  he  is  seen  daily  instructing  in  intellectual 
and  spiritual  things  the  children  on  board.  Sunday  af- 
ter Sunday  he  preaches,  in  the  morning  German  to  the 
few  Salzburgers  on  board,  in  the  afternoon  with  blun- 
dering attempts  at  an  English  discourse,  using  Latin 
terms  where  his  limited  vocabulary  failed  him  and 
having  the  captain  put  them  into  English.  Everyone 
was  taken  under  his  pastoral  supervision.  To  the 
negroes  especially  he  gave  the  kindliest  attention, 
endeavoring  to  plant  in  them  the  germs  of  religious 
knowledge.  Excepting  the  few  Salzburgers  there 
was  not  one  on  board  who  could  enter  into  his  relii>- 
ious  views  and  feelings  or  even  afford  him  social 
companionship,  yet  he  commanded  by  his  Christian 
demeanor  and  official  faithfulness  the  high  personal 
esteem  of  the  whole  ship's  company. 

Arriving  at  Charleston,  September  23,  1742,  Muh- 
lenberg made  his  way  to  Ebenezer.  This  was  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  wishes  of  Ziegenhagen,  who  hoped 
that  a  visit  to  these  brethren  would  be  serviceable 
to  this  pioneer  for  Pennsylvania,  and  that  one  of  the 
pastors  might  accompany  him  to  that  province  and 
assist  him  in  the  work  of  organizing  the  Lutheran 
Church  there. 

Muhlenberg's  brief  sojourn  among  these  brethren 
whose  Halle  training  gave  them  the  fullest  sympathy 
with  his  views,  brought  him  bodily  and  spiritual 
refreshment.  He  came  here  for  the  first  time  in  con- 
tact with  a  German-American  congregation,  freed  from 


246  The  Lzitherans  in  America. 

the  stifling  pressure  of  state  authority,  and  its  success 
was  most  instructive  and  encouraging.  But  sweet  as 
were  the  days  of  repose,  the  call  of  his  Lord  is  to 
Pennsylvania  and  although  it  was  late  in  the  fall  and 
an  almost  unbroken  wilderness  of  900  miles  stretched 
between  him  and  the  goal  of  his  journey,  he  must 
hasten  onward. 

With  a  spirit  of  brotherly  kindness  and  great  self- 
denial,  Bolzius  having  obtained  the  magnanimous  con- 
sent of  his  congregation  accompanied  him.  But  upon 
reaching  Charleston,  and  finding  themselves  in  great 
perplexity  as  to  the  time  and  manner  of  proceeding 
on  their  journey,  Bolzius  felt  constrained  to  return  to 
Ebenezer.  Muhlenberg  is  once  more  left  absolutel 
alone. 

Ready  to  die  or  to  live  he  gave  his  soul  into  the! 
hands  of  God  and,  notwithstanding  the  protestations 
of  men  knowing  the  season  and  the  sort  of  craft  on 
which  he  engaged  passage,  committed  himself  to  a 
frail  and  wretched  bark  and  endured  a  terrible  voyage 
to  Philadelphia.  His  fortitude  if  not  his  faith  at  one 
time  gave  way  to  such  an  extent  that  he  piteously 
begged  the  captain  to  be  put  ashore.  Still  he  would 
preach  to  the  ship's  company  whose  profanity  made 
his  hair  stand  on  end,  and  when  too  weak  to  stand  he 
preached  from  his  bed  in  a  sitting  posture. 

But  in  spite  of  waves  and  tempests  and  perils  of 
every  kind,  the  vessel  which  bore  the  founder  of  the 
American  Lutheran  Church  could  not  perish,  and  at 
last  it  bears  its  precious  freight  quietly  and  serenely 
up  the  Delaware,  passing  here  and  there  the  thriving 
homesteads    of   Swedish    Lutherans  and,  as  it   nears 


Miihlenberg  and  his  Colleagues.  247 

Philadelphia,  offering  a  view  of  Tinicum  Island,  on 
which  just  about  one  hundred  years  before  the  first 
Lutheran  house  of  worship  in  the  New  World  had 
been  erected. 

It  was  on  the  25th  of  November  1  742  that  Muhlen-   I 
berg  set  foot  in   Philadelphia.     He  was   in   the  prime 
of  life,  in  vigorous  health,  possessed  of  a   robust  con- 
stitution   capable    of   enduring   exposures  and    hard- 
ships, and  was  eminently  qualified  for  his  peculiar  and 
momentous    task,    by  an  extraordinary  versatility  of 
talents,  by  general  culture,  by  theological  soundness, 
a    benignant    disposition,    a     penetration     of   human 
nature,   a  faculty   for   administration,   a   resolute  will 
and  prodigious  energy,  a  world  conquering    faith  and 
absolute  consecration.     Combining  the  highest  qual- 
ities of  pastor,  preacher  and  leader  he  seems  to  have 
been  specially  endowed  by  the  Holy  Ghost  with  the 
charisms   vouchsafed    to  the  Apostolic  Church.     He 
was  without  doubt  a  man  sent  of  God  to  the  Lutheran 
Church  of  America,  its  heaven-ordained  Bishop.     His 
coming  was  the  signal  of  a  new  era.     It  was  like  the 
arrival  of  a    captain    in   the    midst    of    a    scattered, 
dispirited    and    demoralized     host.      It    was    to    the 
Church  what  the  advent  of  spring  is  to  the  earth  after 
a  long,  dreary  and  stormy  winter.     It  was  the  instru-        fi 
ment  of  her  firm  establishment  and  her  organic  life.    u<$ 
Finding   himself  a  stranger  in   Philadelphia,  without^^.^ 
even  a  letter  of  introduction,  and   falling  in  with  a    i<fi 
German  who  belonged  to  the   New  Hanover  Church,    fty 
he  set  out  on  horseback  that  very  day   for  his  desti-     ^ 
nation. 

The  following  Sunday  found  him  in  the  rude  pulpit 


248  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

of  "a  log  building  not  yet  finished  within,"  and  the 
Sunday  after  he  addressed  large  audiences  in  Phila- 
delphia, preaching  in  the  forenoon  in  the  old  butcher- 
shop  in  which  the  Lutherans  and  the  Reformed  held 
their  services  alternately, — we  have  no  proof  that  a 
regular  normal  Lutheran  organization  existed, — and 
in  the  afternoon  in  the  Swedish  Church  located  be- 
yond the  southern  limits  of  the  city.  Its  pastor,  Rev. 
Dylander,  had  died  the  year  before.  The  pastor  of 
the  Church  at  Christina,  (now  Wilmington,  Del.)  Rev. 
Tranberg,  gave  Muhlenberg  a  hearty  welcome  and 
every  encouragement  in  his  mission.  The  third  Sun- 
day he  officiated  at  New  Providence  (The  Trappe) 
preaching  in  a  barn. 

Muhlenberg's  reception  by  the  congregations  to 
which  he  was  sent,  was  determined  in  large  measure 
by  the  state  of  things  which  he  found  prevailing.  No 
announcement  of  his  coming  anticipated  him  and  but 
for  Zieeenhasfen's  testimonials,  he  would  likely  have 
been  regarded  as  one  more  impostor,  although  there 
must  have  been,  to  some  at  least,  a  different  ring  in 
his  preaching.  Some,  like  famished  sheep,  were  so 
hungry  for  the  food  of  life  that  they  received  him 
with  profound  thanksgiving.  Long  neglected,  and 
denied  the  stated  ministrations  of  the  Church,  they 
now  received  them  joyfully  and  with  their  whole 
hearts.  But  there  were  others  whom  hope  deferred 
had  made  sick  at  heart.  And  as  pretenders  one  after 
another  continued  to  affect  pastoral  services,  some 
adhered  to  one  and  some  to  another.  A  number 
had  gone  off  to  the  Moravians,  whose  leader,  Count 
von  Zinzendorf,  claimed  "  ecclesiastical  authority  over 


Muhlenberg  and  his  Colleagues.  249 

all  the  Lutherans  in  the  Province;"  not  a  few  had 
witnessed  so  much  of  the  disorder  and  the  distraction 
which  had  long  prevailed,  that  they  were  unwilling 
to  have  anything  further  to  do  with  churches  or  par- 
sons, while  of  course  there  were  not  wanting  those 
wary  and  selfish  ones  who  mean  to  wait  and  see  what 
turn  things  will  take. 

Happily  for  the  Church,  Muhlenberg  came  hither 
not  seeking  his  own  but  another's  cause,  not  for  filthy 
lucre  but  for  the  sake  of  souls,  and  he  stood  prepared 
to  endure  hardness  as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Nor  was  it  long  before  he  had  cheering  evidences 
that  humble  as  was  the  beginning,  and  dark  as  was 
the  outlook,  the  hand  of  God  was  with  him. 

Although  meeting  with  bitter  opposition  from  both 
the  disorderly  and  the  fanatical  elements  that  were 
disposed  to  maintain  the  field  they  had  preoccu- 
pied, he  was  very  soon  acknowledged  by  the  three 
congregations  as  their  legitimate  and  sole  pastor,  and 
his  faithfulness,  dignity  and  the  irresistable  charm  of 
his  manner  soon  commanded  universal  love,  esteem 
and  sympathy.  Multitudes  came  to  hear  him  wher- 
ever he  preached.  Many  cheered  his  heart  by  proofs 
of  deep  spiritual  earnestness,  others  became  awakened 
under  his  searching  discourses,  movements  of  the  new 
life  in  Christ  succeeded  the  paralysis  of  indifferentism 
and  worldliness,  the  congregations  submitted  to 
formal  reorganization,  Church  discipline  was  intro- 
duced, peace,  concord  and  order  triumphed  over  the 
reign  of  lawlessness,  division  and  strife,  schools  were 
opened,  the  catechisation  of  the  young  was  prosecuted, 
Muhlenberg  personally  attending  not  only  to  the  lat- 


2c;o  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

ter,  but  throughout  the  week  teaching  also  the  child- 
ren the  simplest  rudiments,  youths  nineteen  and 
twenty  years  of  age  coming  to  him  "with  their  ABC 
book." 

The  field  of  labor  to  which  he  was  called  consisted 
of  the  three  congregations  already  named,  and  situ- 
ated many  miles  apart,  and  the  extent  of  his  labors 
here,  especially  when  the  ejection  of  churches  and 
school-houses  began,  was  sufficient  for  two  or  three 
ordinary  men.  But  with  vast  fields  white  unto  the 
harvest  stretching  in  remote  distances  on  every  side, 
his  missionary  ardor  could  not  be  confined  to  this 
territory.  It  soon  overleaped  these  limits  and  in  a 
few  years  the  boundless  continent  became  his  parish. 
Lutheran  centres  with  various  stages  of  organization 
were  to  be  found  in  all  directions,  and,  although  they 
had  but  little  prospect  of  regular  pastoral  services 
they  continued  with  the  constant  increase  of  immigra- 
tion to  spring  up  everywhere.  Muhlenberg  felt  con- 
strained to  visit  these  one  after  another,  not  only 
such  as  were  adjacent,  but  those  lying  more  remote 
like  Lancaster,  York,  Hanover,  and  the  churches  in 
New  Jersey  and  New  York.  This  required  him  to 
travel  hundreds  of  miles  through  pathless  forests, 
over  declivitous  mountains,  across  swollen  streams, 
under  pitiless  rain  and  snow  and  storm,  to  ride  often 
for  many  hours  through  the  darkest  night  unattended, 
and  in  imminent  peril  of  his  life  from  the  savages,, 
from  the  wild  beasts  and  from  sheer  exhaustion. 

On  reaching  a  Lutheran  community,  he  would  pro- 
ceed with  preaching,  often  even  in  the  depth  of  winter 
under    the    open    sky,    administering  the    sacraments, 


Muhlenberg  and  his  Colleagues.  251 

teaching  and  confirming  the  young,  establishing 
order,  reconciling  antagonisms,  excluding  incongru- 
ous elements,  exposing  the  errors  and  tricks  of  the 
sects,  kindling  afresh  the  love  for  the  Church  and  her 
services,  strengthening  everywhere  the  things  that 
remained  and  were  ready  to  die,  and  restoring  once 
more  confidence  and  respect  for  the  sacred  office. 
With  all  these  arduous  and  almost,  superhuman 
labors  for  the  treneral  interest,  he  never  forgot  the 
essential  office  of  the  true  shepherd,  the  care  of  the 
individual  sheep.  His  remarkable  wisdom  in  leading 
such  as  were  troubled  and  awakened  to  unburthen 
their  souls  to  him,  his  rare  tact  in  pointing  out  to 
them  the  way  of  salvation,  and  his  burning  zeal  in 
this  direction,  are  among  the  greatest  secrets  of 
his  wonderful  power  over  men.  "  My  saddest  con- 
cern," he  mournfully  exclaims,  "  is  that  to  the  special 
care  of  each  soul  there  is  too  little  time  and  opportu- 
nity given."  And  notwithstanding  that  roads,  rivers 
and  storms  were  such  that  "  one  would  not  like  to 
driv^  his  dog  out  of  the  house,  yet  willingly  do  I  go, 
at  any  day  or  any  time  left  free  to  me,  and  visit  souls  in 
whom  the  Spirit  has  begun  his  work."  It  was  a  com- 
mon practice  with  him  at  the  close  of  the  Lord's  Day 
to  spend  hours  in  private  with  awakened  and  penitent 
individuals,  directing  inquirers  to  the  Lamb  of  God. 
His  biography  narrates  many  striking  cases  of  spir- 
itual awakening,  and  shows  that  the  renewal  and 
salvation  of  the  individual  was  the  unquenchable  pur- 
pose of  his  ministry. 

His     concern    for    the    individual    soul    was    only 
equalled  by  his  conscientious  solicitude  for  the  spir- 


252  The  Lzitherans  in  America. 

itual  life  of  the  congregation.  In  illustration  of  this, 
note  his  requirement  of  the  Church  Council,  on  the 
occasion  of  his  first  administration  of  the  communion 
to  testify  to  the  moral  character  of  the  people  who 
had  handed  in  their  names.  With  the  same  spirit, 
when  for  the  first  time  he  visited  York  and  the  congre- 
gation asked  to  have  the  Holy  Supper,  he  declined  to 
administer  it  to  them,  on  the  ground  that  they  first 
needed  repentance  and  the  application  of  God's 
Word. 

Not  the  least  of  Muhlenberg's  cares  nor  the  least 
of  his  achievements,  was  his  conflict  with  the  legion  of 
scandalous  impostors  that  had  intruded  into  the 
feeble  and  defenseless  folds  and  by  their  infamous 
conduct  had,  in  many  localities,  brought  reproach 
upon  the  Lutheran  Church  and  on  the  pastoral  office. 
Though  they  assailed  him  with  the  poisoned  shafts  of 
calumny,  though  they  employed  every  weapon  of  cun- 
nino-  and  malice  to  counteract  his  influence,  and  to 
prevent  the  progress  of  Christ's  kingdom,  they  were 
constrained  to  flee  before  this  resolute  ambassador, 
who  came  to  the  defense  of  the  churches  with  the 
scathincr  weapon  of  God's  truth  and  with  the  divine 
principle  of  order  and  organization.  Not  one  of 
them  could  withstand  him — not  even  Count  von  Zin- 
zendorf,  who  was,  indeed,  no  impostor,  but  a  danger- 
ous intruder  into  Lutheran  congregations. 

For  several  years  he  labored  solitary  and  alone. 
A  certain  Rev.  Tobias  Wagner  had,  indeed,  arrived 
shortly  after  Muhlenberg,  and  exercised  a  brief  and 
desultory  ministry  respectively  in  some  half  dozen 
congregations    in   Pennsylvania,  but    intimate   fellow- 


Muhlenberg  and  his  Colleagues. 


253 


ship  and  effective  co-operation  with  a  man  of  his  turn 
of  mind  were  out  of  the  question.  Berkenmeier  and 
Knoll  entertained  strong  prejudices  against  Muhlen- 
berg's Pietism,  and  persistently  sought  to  undermine 
his    influence    by    impugning    his    orthodoxy  and   his 


loyalty  to  the  Lutheran  Church.  "Mr.  Berkenmeier," 
says  Dr.  B.  M.  Schmucker,  "  claimed  for  himself  and 
the  men  from  Hamburg,  a  more  positive  Lutheran 
orthodoxy  than  he  conceded  to  Hartwig,  Muhlenberg 


254  Tlic  Lutherans  in  Amei'ica. 

and  the  others  trained  at  Halle.  He  earnestly  warned 
the  conoretrations  against  them."  This  distrust  was 
as  unfortunate  as  it  was  unwarranted.  As  Pastor 
Berkenmeier  was  a  man  of  ability,  learning,  unim- 
peachable conduct  and  widely  extended  influence, 
especially  among  the  Lutherans  of  New  York,  one 
may,  in  some  degree,  imagine  what  might  have  been 
the  effect  upon  the  Lutheran  Church  of  that  genera- 
tion and  of  succeeding  generations,  had  not  the  un- 
warranted suspicion  of  Confessional  unsoundness  kept 
these  two  excellent  men  from  uniting  their  counsels, 
their  "strength  and  their  influence  for  the  gathering, 
the  organization  and  the  advancement  of  the  Lu- 
theran  Church. 

With  his  practical  insight  and  his  prophetic  and 
hopeful  foresight,  Muhlenberg  very  soon  recognized 
the  great  work  to  be  accomplished  here  for  and  by 
the  Lutheran  Church,  and  he  at  once  sent  urgent  peti- 
tions to  Halle  for  co-laborers.  In  January,  1745,  his 
heart  was  cheered  by  the  arrival  of  three  men  whom 
the  Halle  Fathers  had  sent  out  to  his  assistance. 
Their  advent  was  the  occasion  of  such  joy  that  the 
anniversary  of  it  was  for  a  number  of  years  cele- 
brated in  the  circle  of  this  devoted  brotherhood  as  a 
grateful  memorial  serving  for  the  spiritual  refresh- 
ment of  all. 

Their  names  were  Peter  Brunnholtz,  John  Nicol. 
Kurtz,  and  John  Helfrich  Schaum.  The  first  one 
alone  had  been  ordained.  He  was  "a  man  of  dis- 
tinguished moral  worth,  and  of  extraordinary  de- 
votedness  to  the  cause  of  Christ."  The  latter  two 
had  reached  a  certain  stage  of  preparation,  but  they 


Muhlenberg  and  his  Colleagues.  255 

were  expected  to  prosecute  their  studies  under  their 
superiors,  while  they  served  as  catechists  and  teach- 
ers in  the  congregational  schools,  a  sphere  in  which 
they  were  needed  quite  as  much  as  in  the  pulpit. 

Sensible  of  the  strength  which  comes  from  union, 
the  two  pastors  made  an  amicable  distribution  of  their 
work,  extending  their  ministrations  to  outlying  sta- 
tions in  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey,  accessible  by  1 
a  day's  journey,  and  most  heartily  and  to  the  fullest 
extent  co-operated  with  each  other.  As  a  reminder 
of  the  rivalries  and  strifes  which  had  marked  the  re- 
lations of  the  numerous  impostors  and  pretenders, 
these  co-laborers  became  known  everywhere  as  "the 
united  ministers,"  and  the  effect  of  such  union  was 
soon  visible  in  every  quarter.  The  upbuilding  of 
Zion  progressed  at  a  wonderful  rate,  the  desert  be- 
gan to  blossom  as  the  rose.  The  catechists  besides 
their  work  of  catechising  the  young  and  conducting 
schools,  were  much  occupied  also  in  preaching,  were 
authorized  to  baptize  infants  and  in  cases  of  emer- 
gency to  administer  the  communion  to  the  sick,  thus 
faithfully  testing  and  improving  their  ministerial  quali- 
fications until  each  was  deemed  worthy  of  ordination 
and  settlement  over  his  own  parish. 

The  fame  of  the  blessed  work  of  these  pastors  was 
not  long  in  spreading  over  the  colonies  and  from 
every  quarter,  even  away  up  in  the  Mohawk  valley, 
came  earnest  petitions  for  the  services  of  "the  united 
ministers."  And  whenever  Muhlenberg  learned  of 
German  Lutherans,  destitute  of  pastoral  ministrations, 
and  this  was  true  of  scores  of  communities,  he  was 
ready  to  render  assistance   as   promptly  as  possible, 


256  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

and  so  were  his  associates,  all  having  the  same  spirit, 
all  laboring  for  one  end.  Their  missionary  work  ac- 
cordingly branched  out  rapidly  both  east  and  west, 
north  and  south,  and  Muhlenberg  especially,  with  in- 
defatigable application  and  with  an  astounding  capac- 
ity of  endurance,  made  frequent  journeys  on  horse- 
back for  a  distance  of  fifty  and  even  a  hundred  miles, 
traversing  terrible  roads,  dangerous  swamps  and  deep 
streams,  in  the  fiercest  weather,  and  at  the  hazard  of 
his  life.  On  one  occasion  he  and  a  companion  after 
riding  all  day,  were  compelled  for  want  of  finding  a 
house  at  which  to  lodge,  "to  continue  riding  through 
the  wilderness,  with  the  rain  pouring  down  heavier,, 
and  the  poor  horses  wading  up  to  their  knees  through 
water  and  mire,  until  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
totally  worn  out  and  half  dead,  they  reached  their 
quarters." 

We  meet  him  at  Lancaster,  at  York,  at  McAllister- 
town  (Hanover),  where  in  1746  he  found  a  considera- 
ble congregation,  and  passing  beyond  the  Maryland 
boundaries,  he  is  on  the  Monocacy  and  at  Frederick. 
Journeying  in  another  direction  hevisits  the  churches 
on  theRaritan,  at  New  York,  up  the  Hudson,  and  late 
in  life  he  undertakes  the  laborious  journey  to  Ebene- 
zer,  Georgia,  to  exercise  his  mediating  powers  and 
quiet  the  serious  disturbances  which  had  broken  out. 

No  earthly  remuneration  could  be  any  considera- 
tion for  such  hardships,  exposures,  toils  and  conflicts 
in  the  service  of  Christ's  Church,  but  a  mind  like  his 
must  have  enjoyed  the  recompense  he  found  in  the  in- 
estimable privilege  of  preaching  repentance  and  faith 
in    the    Lord    Jesus    to    listening    multitudes,  many  of 


Muhlenberg  and  his  Colleagues.  257 

whom  had  traveled  ten  and  even  twenty  miles  to  hear 
him,  some  with  hot  tears  lamenting  to  him  their  priva- 
tion of  the  means  of  grace,  while  others  were  awakened 
under  the  power  of  his  earnest  sermons.  With  extra- 
ordinary readiness  the  congregations  submitted  them- 
selves to  his  counsel  and  to  his  authority,  bound  them- 
selves to  the  observance  of  order  and  discipline,  and 
pledged  their  adhesion  to  "the  holy  Word  of  God  as 
given  by  prophets  and  apostles,  in  the  Unaltered  Augs- 
burg Confession  and  the  other  Symbolical  Books."  Al- 
though the  churches  which  he  visited  had,  one  by  one, 
been  seriously  disturbed  by  persons  playing  the  role  of 
Lutheran  ministers,  and  many  had  been  led  into  error, 
the  people  promptly  recognized  the  voice  of  a  Lutheran 
shepherd,  as  he  discoursed  on  the  nature  of  true  repent- 
ance, and  on  the  person  and  offices  of  Christ.  Under 
the  light  of  his  instruction  and  preaching  and  in  virtue 
of  the  stable  organization  which  he  effected,  the  demon 
of  confusion  was  summarily  dispelled.  Congregations 
that  had  become  "  deplorably  demoralized,"  felt  the  in- 
vieoration  of  a  new  life,  with  the  return  of  order  and 
union  they  became  conscious  of  strength,  and  although 
it  was  impossible  at  once  to  supply  them  with  regular 
pastors,  schools  were  established,'the  youth  were  cate- 
chised, a  sermon  was  read  each  Lord's  day  to  the  assem- 
bled people,  church-buildings  began  to  be  erected  and 
everything  was  done  to  make  ready  for  the  advent  of 
an  ordained  preacher. 

Another  co-worker,  the  Rev.  J.  Fr.  Handschuh,  who 
like  his  colleagues  was  a  man  of  deep  personal  relig- 
ious experience  and  of  glowing  zeal  for  practical  god- 
liness, was  sent  over  by  Francke  in  the  spring  of  1 748. 


258  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

He   served    successively  the    churches    at    Lancaster, 
Germantown  and  Philadelphia. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  Muhlenberg  and  Brunnholtz 
in  conjunction  with  Handschuh  made  provision  for 
the  proper  ordering  of  the  public  worship,  the  admin- 
istration of  the  sacraments  and  the  unification  of  the 
congregations  by  formulating  a  common  liturgy.  A 
short  formulary  had  heretofore  been  used  but  it  was 
not  "  in  all  its  parts  harmonious,"  and  the  preparation 
of  a  more  complete  order  had  been  deferred  until 
there  should  be  more  laborers  on  the  ground,  and  "a 
better  knowledge  of  the  condition  of  things  Jn  this 
country  "  should  be  obtained.  The  Swedish  Liturgy 
was  found  to  be  unsuited  to  the  German  Churches 
because  it  required  the  chanting  of  the  collects,  which 
Germans  from  the  Rhine  and  Main  districts  con- 
sidered "  papal."  And  it  was  also  deemed  inexpedient 
to  adopt  any  of  the  numerous  German  Agenda,  since 
the  members  of  the  churches  had  come  from  so  many 
different  localities,  each  of  which  had  its  own  formu- 
lary. They  accordingly  took  the  Liturgy  of  the 
Savoy  congregation  of  London  as  the  basis,  making 
such  abbreviations,  modifications  and  additions  "as 
after  due  consideration  of  the  circumstances  in  which 
we  are  here  placed  appeared  advisable  and  calculated 
to  edify,  and  adopted  it  tentatively  until  we  had  a 
better  understanding   of  the  matter,  and  determined 

to  use  it  with  a  view  of  introducing   into   our  Congre- 
ss o 

gations  the  same  ceremonies,  forms  and  words." 

A  step  of  yet  greater  importance  and  more  far- 
reaching  in  results  was  the  formation  during  the  same 
year,  August  14  and  15,  1748,  of  a  Synodical  organi- 


Muhlenberg  and  his  Colleagties.  259 

zation.  The  bonds  of  affection  and  faith  which  united 
these  German  pastors  extended  also  to  their  Swedish 
brethren,  who  were  men  of  a  kindred  spirit,  unceas- 
ingly active  in  preaching,  and  caring  for  the  spiritu- 
ally destitute,  and  who  in  conformity  to  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  Archbishop  of  Sweden  stood  ready  for 
the  most  intimate  fellowship  and  co-operation.  Dif- 
erences  of  language  and  nationality  were  sunk  in  the 
desire  to  make  common  cause  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  Gospel,  the  development  of  the  Church,  and 
especially  for  the  exclusion  of  the  fanatical  "  Zinzen- 
dorfers,"  who  were  everywhere  intruding  into  Lu- 
theran congregations,  creating  disturbances  and  di- 
visions. 

The  first  proposal  for  a  union  came  from  an  active 
and  wealthy  layman,  Peter  Koch,  an  officer  in  the 
Swedish  congregation  at  Wicacoa.  He  elaborated  a 
"Regulation  "  forever  uniting  the  two  branches  of  the 
Church.  But  his  scheme  was  deemed  impracticable 
and  several  further  attempts  of  a  similar  kind  were 
likewise  frustrated.  Both  parties  felt  more  and  more 
the  need  of  such  an  alliance  in  counsel  and  action. 
An  annual  conference  including  a  few  of  the  elders 
of  the  German  and  Swedish  congregations,  it  was  felt, 
would  impart  greater  efficiency  to  the  efforts  of  the 
ministry  and  promote  the  general  good  of  Zion.  The 
Swedish  pastors  had  in  fact  been  closely  identified 
with  the  German  communities  before  the  arrival  of 
the  Halle  ministers,  having  been  instrumental  in 
founding  congregations  in  localities  which  to-day  are 
among  the  strongest  centres  of  Lutheranism,  and  sup- 
plying, with  great  considerateness  and  zeal,  some  of 


260  The  Lutherans  in  America 

the  older  congregations  on  the  Hudson  and  elsewhere 
with  preaching.  They  and  their  churches  stood  ready 
therefore  for  a  union. 

The  churches  served  by  the  "  United  Ministers " 
had  come  to  be  known  generally  as  "  The  United 
Evangelical  Congregations."  Here  was  the  nucleus 
for  a  permanent  and  compact  organization.  And  it 
was  reasonable  that  other  German  congregations 
should  desire  to  share  the  advantages  of  such  an 
association,  and  gladly  entrust  their  well-being  into 
the  hands  of  men  who  had  gained  their  confidence 
and  esteem  by  "  their  elevated  character  as  servants 
of  God,  and  their  firmness  in  holding  fast  to  the  Un- 
altered Augsburg  Confession."  It  was,  in  particular, 
a  petition  of  this  character  from  the  congregations  at 
Tulpehocken  and  Northkill  that  led  to  the  decisive 
step. 

There  were  present  at  this  meeting  Muhlenberg, 
Brunnholtz,  Handshuh,  Kurtz,  Hartwig  and  the  Swed- 
ish Provost  Sandin,  with  his  colleague  Naesman,  and 
the  delegates  from  their  respective  congregations- 
Muhlenberg,  by  common  consent  presided,  but  to  the 
Swedes  was  accorded  a  general  precedence,  and  allt 
longing  "with  united  hearts  and  God's  grace  to  ad- 
vance the  welfare  of  our  poor  Church  in  America," 
took  an  active  part  in  the  solemn  deliberations. 

The  effect  of  this  first  organization  was  to  meme 
the  pastors  and  congregations  into  a  joint  body,  in 
which  each  congregation  or  pastoral  district  became 
an  organic  part,  surrendering  its  independence  to  the 
general  authority,  and  receiving  in  turn  through  lay- 
representation    a   voice    in    the   government   of    the 


Muhlenberg  and  his  Colleagues.  261 

Church,  as  a  whole,  and  of  its  constituent  parts. 
The  decisions  of  the  united  body  had  binding  force 
with  the  congregations,  and  even  the  call  for  a  pastor 
from  any  one  of  them  was  henceforth  addressed  to 
Muhlenberg,  and  by  him  submitted  to  the  assembled 
ministerium. 

The  proceedings  of  this  convention  embraced,  first, 
the  ordination  of  the  catechist,  J.  N.  Kurtz,  a  request 
for  which  was  presented  by  his  congregations.  He 
was  subjected  to  a  very  rigid  examination  concerning 
his  awakening,  course  of  life,  attainments,  library, 
motives  for  seeking  the  ministry,  Lutheran  ortho- 
doxy, and  the  exercise  of  the  pastoral  office  in  public 
and  private.  Francke,  to  whom  these  ministers  for- 
warded regular  reports,  "  thought  too  much  was  ex- 
pected of  the  young  candidate,"  and  observes  that 
the  questions  "were  answered  better  than  they  would 
have  been  by  one  out  of  ten  preachers  before  our 
German  consistories."  This  was  the  first  case  of 
synodical  ordination,  and  administered  at  the  first 
synodical  convention  in  this  country.  J.  H.  Schaum 
was  ordained  at  the  meeting  of  the  synod  in  Lancas- 
ter the  ensuing  year. 

Secondly,  the  dedication  with  imposing  ceremonies  \ 
of  St.  Michael's  Church  in  Philadelphia.  The  Synod 
attended  in  procession,  the  Swedish  Provost  Sandin 
and  Hartwig  in  the  lead.  A  congratulatory  address 
in  English,  written  by  the  oldest  Swedish  minister, 
Tranberg,  was  read,  after  which  followed  a  historical 
address,  which  among  other  thing  stated  that  the 
building  had  been  erected  "that  the  doctrines  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  might  be  preached  in  it 


262 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


according  to  the  prophets  and  apostles,  and  in  agree- 
ment with  the  Unaltered  Augsburg  Confession  and 
all  the  other  Symbolical  Books."  After  this  the 
whole  building  and  its  parts,  the  pulpit,  baptismal 
font,  altar,  were  formally  dedicated  to  the  preaching 
of  the  saving  Word  and  the  administration  of  the 
Holy  Sacraments  according  to  the  Symbolical  Books 
of  the  Lutheran  Church.  The  representatives  of  the 
congregation  solemnly  promised  for  this  purpose  to 
preserve  the  building  for  the  use  of  their  children  and 


st.  Michael's  church,  Philadelphia.  (Dedicated  Aug.  14,  1748.) 

children's  children.  After  some  further  sinofino\  «  all 
the  ministers  and  delegates  kneeling  around  the  altart 
each  minister,  except  Muhlenberg,  offered  a  short 
prayer,  Sandin  and  Naesman  in  Swedish,  the  others 
in  German."  After  another  hymn  and  the  baptism 
of  a  child,  Handschuh  delivered  the  dedication  ser- 
mon, which  was  followed  by  the  administration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper. 

Another  day  was   occupied    in    ascertaining  through 
the  delegates  the  relation  between  the  pastors  and  their 


Muhlenberg  and  his  Colleagues.  263 

congregations,  the  condition  and  wants  of  the  parochial 
schools,  and  the  ratification  of  the  Liturgy,  the  lay  del 
egates  expressing  their  satisfaction  with  the  form  which 
had  been  prepared,  and  with  the  plan  to  introduce  the 
the  same  form  in  all  the  congregations,  "  though  they 
thought  that  during  cold  winter  days  the  service  would 
be  somewhat  too  long." 

Before  adjourning,  the  synod  resolved  to  meet  an- 
nually, alternating  between  Lancaster  and  Philadelphia, 
each  congregation  at  its  own  expense  to  send  two  el- 
ders. Thus  were  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Evangeli- 
cal Lutheran  Church  in  this  country.  How  wisely  and 
how  firmly,  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  this  body, 
under  the  name  of  the  "Evangelical  Lutheran  Minis- 
terium  "  of  Pennsylvania  and  adjacent  states,  after  the 
lapse  of  a  century  and  a  half  is  not  only  still  in  exist- 
ence, but  embraces  to-day  an  aggregate  of  265  minis- 
ters, 442  congregations  and  more  than  100,000  commu- 
nicants, notwithstanding  that  more  than  fifty  synodical 
organizations  with  half  a  million  of  communicants  have 
directly  or  indirectly  sprung  from  it. 

The  most  salutary  results  began  at  once  to  De  appar- 
ent. With  the  hearts  of  the  pastors  beating  in  unison 
their  hands  were  now  also  united,  and  they  felt  girded 
for  their  task,  while  the  congregations  peaceful  within 
themselves  and  in  vital  fellowship  with  one  another, 
became  conscious  of  improved  spiritual  life,  of  renewed 
strength  and  of  the  most  encouraging  prospects.  The 
establishment  of  order,  authority  and  discipline  was  fol- 
lowed not  only  by  a  steady  and  rapid  growth  of  the 
congregations  already  founded,  but  by  the  gathering  of 
new  congregations,  and  the  development  of  new  centers 


264  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

in  every  direction,  rendering  re-enforcements  to  the 
ranks  of  the  clergy  imperative.  Francke  found  it  now 
relatively  easy  to  meet  this  demand,  so  that  in  a1  few 
years  a  considerable  force  was  added  to  those  already 

named. 

Amono-  the  most  eminent  and  worthy  of  these  was 
Rev.  J.  D.  M.  Heintzelman,  whose  services  at  the 
Francke  schools  pointed  him  out  as  especially  fitted 
for  missionary  work  in  Pennsylvania.  His  career  as 
pastor  of  the  Philadelphia  congregation  was  one  of 
oreat  usefulness  but  cut  short  by  an  early  death. 
Another  excellent  co-laborer  arrived  shortly  after 
from  Halle  in  the  person  of  Christopher  Emanuel 
Schultze,  who  so  commanded  the  respect  and  love  of 
Muhlenberg  that  he  secured  his  eldest  daughter  in 
marriage.  He  possessed  extraordinary  gifts  as  a 
preacher  and  as  a  catechist  had  no  superior.  He  was 
most  conscientious  and  indefatigable  in  the  discharge 
of  his  office,  and  "  overwhelmed  with  labors  beyond 
his  strength."  One  of  his  sons,  after  serving  for 
awhile  as  pastor,  was  obliged  to  relinquish  the  office 
on  account  of  bodily  infirmities,  and  this  grandson  of 
Muhlenberg  was  twice  elected  Governor  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, serving  from  1823  to  1829.  Justus  H.  Chr.  Hel- 
muth  came  in  1765.  He  had  been  reared  in  the  Halle 
Orphanage  and  had  also  passed  through  the  Univer- 
sity. He  combined  superior  talents  for  teaching  and 
preaching,  labored  for  awhile  and  with  great  success 
at  Lancaster,  then  followed  a  call  to  Philadelphia, 
where  he  became  a  member  of  the  Philosophical 
Society  and  was  for  eighteen  years  Professor  of  the 
Oriental  Languages  and  of  German  in  the  University. 


Muhlenberg  mid  his  Colleagues.  265 

With  him  arrived  his  bosom  friend,  John  Fr.  Schmidt, 
who  was  pastor  at  Germantown  during  the  Revolution, 
and  during  the  brief  English  occupation  of  Philadel- 
phia became  a  refugee,  his  congregation  likewise  have- 
ing  been  dispersed.  Later  he  became  Helmuth's  co- 
laborer  in  Philadelphia. 

Another  true  son  of  Halle  was  the  Rev.  J.  L.  Voigt 
a  person  of  marked  individuality,  of  pronounced  lit- 
erary tastes,  and  always  sustaining  close  personal 
relations  to  Muhlenberg  whose  successor  he  became 
at  the  Trappe.  His  devotional  meetings  there  "  among 
those  of  his  membership  who  felt  a  deeper  spiritual 
interest  "  were  viewed  with  disfavor  by  some  who  were 
not  friendly  to  the  man.  With  him  arrived  another  of 
like  spirit,  John  Andrew  Krug,  the  two  having  been 
ordained  at  the  same  time.  Of  the  latter,  Dr.  Mann 
says  :  "His  unaffected  humility,  his  sincere  piety,  and 
his  zeal  for  the  welfare  of  those  who  were  entrusted 
to  his  care,  could  not  fail  to  gain  for  him  the  esteem 
and  the  affection  of  those  who  were  spiritually  bene- 
fitted by  his  pastoral  services,  with  whom,  as  a  true 
Hallensis,  he  held  private  devotions  in  addition  to  the 
usual  public  service."  He  began  his  pastoral  career  at 
Reading,  declined  subsequently  a  call  to  Baltimore, 
and  removed  in  1771  to  Fredericktown,  Md.  from 
whence  a  year  later  he  made  an  extended  missionary 
tour  into  Virginia. 

Muhlenberg  had  sent  his  three  sons  while  yet  quite 
young  to  Halle  for  their  education  and  in  due  time 
these  returned  and  entered  upon  the  active  duties  of  the 
ministry.  With  them  came  John  Christopher  Kunze, 
*  the  most  gifted  and  the    most   scholarly  "   of  all   the 


266  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

missionaries  sent  from  Halle  to  Pennsylvania.  Im- 
mediately upon  his  arrival  he  became  the  associate  of 
Muhlenberg  in  Philadelphia.  Later  he  removed  to 
New  York  where  he  succeeded  in  uniting-  the  German 
congregation  and  the  old  Dutch  church. 

To  these  may  be  added  names  like  Gerock,  sent 
hither  by  the  Church  authorities  of  Wrtemberg, 
who,  thouofh  not  sustaining-  intimate  relations  to  the 
Halle  pastors,  connected  himself  with  the  Synod,  and 
had  long  pastorates  in  Lancaster,  New  York  and 
Baltimore  ;  Hartwig,  who,  after  having  finished  his 
University  course  in  Germany,  and  having  for  a  short 
time  missionated  among  the  Jews,  was  sent  by  the 
Hamburg  ministry  to  the  congregations  on  the  Hud- 
son, and  identified  himself  with  Muhlenberg  and  his 
colleagues;  and  especially  the  Swedish  pastors,  pre- 
eminent among  whom  were  the  Provosts  Acrelius  and 
von  Wrangel,  whose  active  co-operation  over  the  whole 
field  of  the  German  Lutheran  Church,  and  whose 
affectionate  and  beautiful  attitude  toward  the  Ger- 
man pastors,  entitles  them  to  the  lasting  gratitude  of 
all  Lutherans  ;  and  Bager,  another  Hallean  pupil,  who 
arrived  in  1752,  served  for  awhile  the  church  in  New 
York,  and  for  many  years  the  churches  at  York,  Han- 
over and  neighboring  localities. 

Besides  these  may  yet  be  mentioned  Weygant, 
Raus  and  Schrenk.  There  were  yet  others  who  had 
pursued  a  course  of  study  in  Europe,  or  served  as 
teachers,  and  who  were  here  for  a  season  employed 
in  catechising  and  occasional  preaching  under  super- 
vision, and   after  a  fair  and  thorough   trial  were  ad- 


Muhlenberg  and  his  Colleagues.  267 

mitted  to   ordination  upon  the  presentation   of  a  call 
for  their  services. 

Exclusive  of  those  who  would  not  fellowship  these 
Hallean  Pietists,  and  of  the  few  Georgia  and  Virginia 
pastors,  with  whom  the  great  distance  rendered  co- 
operation impossible,  the  Ministerium  embraced  in 
1768  twenty-four  members,  and  it  would  be  no  easy 
task  to  find  in  this  country,  at  that  time,  another 
group  of  men  measuring  up  to  the  standard  of  these 
in  piety,  in  culture,  in  devotion  to  the  Church  and  her 
Creed,  and  in  self-sacrificing  activity  for  the  exten- 
sion of  Christ's  Kingdom  and  the  upbuilding  of  the 
waste  places  of  Zion. 

Measureless  praise  has  been  bestowed  in  our  litera- 
ture upon  the  "  Pilgrim   Fathers  "  for   their  abandon- 
ment of  native  land  and  their  attachment  to  the  truth 
and  to   their  forms   of  worship,  yet  it  has  been  truly 
said,  "in  /genuine  piety,  Christian   heroism,  and  ener- 
getic devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  Redeemer,  the  men 
who    planted  the   Lutheran    Church  in   this  Western 
Hemisphere,  will  not  suffer  in  comparison  with  them. 
Their  history  presents  a  most   beautiful  example   of 
patient   endurance  and   untiring  zeal  in  the  service  of 
God.     Their    indefatigable    and    self-denying   efforts, 
their    earnest    and  faithful    life,  illustrating  the    doc- 
trines  of  the   Church   they  loved,  and  for  whose  ad- 
vancement they  were  toiling,  made  a  deep  impression 
upon    their    contemporaries,    and    secured    the   confi- 
dence  and    sympathy  of   all  with    whom    they    were 
brought   in  contact.     The  prevalence  of  the  German 
language  among  them,  and  the  preservation  of  their 
records  in  their  native  tongue,  have  deprived  them  of 


268 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


the  position  in  the  early  history  of  our  country  to 
which  their  acknowledged  literary  character,  their 
virtues,  and  their  influence  justly  give  them  a  claim." 

And,  although  the  marvellous  triumphs  of  Christi- 
anity largely  make  up  the  history  of  the  Church,  the 
sound  and  rapid  progress  of  the  Evangelical  Lu- 
theran Church  under  the  labors  of  Muhlenberg  and 
his  colleagues  has  but  rarely  had  a  parallel.  With  a 
consecration  to  the  cause  that  recoiled  from  no  self- 
sacrifice,  with   an    extraordinary  sagacity  and  adapta- 


ZION'S  CHURCH,  PHILADELPHIA.     (Dedicated  June  25,   1769.) 

tion  to  circumstances,  with  a  co-operation  that  was 
apostolic  in  spirit  and  statesmanlike  in  policy,  with  a 
heroism  seldom  eclipsed  in  the  field  of  missions  or  on 
the  field  of  battle,  and  with  a  superhuman  endurance 
of  toils  and  burdens,  these  men  were  everywhere  pre- 
paring the  soil  and  sowing  the  seed  of  God's  truth. 
And  the  Lord  and  Head  of  the  Church  was  mani- 
festly working  with  them  and  confirming  the  Word. 
Extraordinary  and  powerful  results  followed  their 
activity.  A  general  awakening  prevailed  through  all 
the    vast    region    surrounding    their    labors.     A  hiofh 


Muhlenberg  and  Jiis  Colleagues.  269 

standard  of  spirituality  was  maintained,  and  the  ear- 
nestness and  the  fervent  prayers  of  the  pastors  were 
reflected  in  the  active  zeal  and  the  Christian  virtues 
of  a  devout  people.  There  was  a  steady  increase  in 
members,  efficiency  and  influence.  In  Philadelphia, 
St.  Michael's  Church,  which  at  the  time  of  its  conse- 
cration  in  1748  was  regarded  by  many  as  too  large  ^ 
and  too  costly  a  structure  for  so  small  a  congre-  \ 
gation,  was  found  to  be  too  contracted,  the  communi- 
cants alone  numbering  some  seven  hundred.  By 
unanimous  consent  of  the  congregation,  accordingly, 
the  vestry  purchased  a  valuable  lot  of  ground  on  the 
corner  of  Fourth  and  Cherry  Streets,  and  began  the 
erection  of  Zion  Church,  laying  the  cornerstone  at 
the  meeting  of  the  Synod  in  1766,  and  consecrating  it 
June  25,  1769,  before  an  immense  concourse  of 
people,  the  Ministerium,  the  pastors  of  the  Swedish 
and  Reformed  congregations,  the  Commissary  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  the  Provost  and  faculty  of  the 
academy,  the  Mayor  of  Philadelphia  and  other  digni- 
taries, participating  in  the  solemn  festivities.  This 
church  was  for  many  years  regarded  the  largest  and 
finest  house  of  worship  in  America. 

The  wave  of  a  quickened  church  life  spread  far  and 
wide  in  every  direction.  From  the  Delaware  to  the 
Susquehanna  and  the  region  west  of  it,  congregations 
arose  and  multitudes  of  various  nationalities  flocked 
to  their  altars.  The  tide  extended  over  into  Mary- 
land, along  the  Monocacy  and  down  into  the  heart  oi 
Virginia,  and  northward  into  the  interior  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, while  numerous  flourishing  churches  were  scat- 
tered over  New  Jersey,  and   those  far  up  on  the  Hud- 


270  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

son  were  not  only  strengthened  but  multiplied.  The 
power  of  the  Most  High  was  shown  to  be  still  inher- 
ent in  the  Gospel  mustard  seed,  and  this  mighty 
growth  of  it,  with  the  songs  of  praise  in  its  branches, 
proceeded  in  the  face  of  the  most  adverse  influences, 
and  at  a  period,  too,  when  both  the  ministers  and  con- 
oreo-ations  were  constantly  harassed  t>y  the  devasta- 
tions  of  the  long  raging  struggle  between  the  English 
and  the  French  for  the  possession  of  the  country, 
many  being  cruelly  murdered,  and  numbers  compelled 
to  fly  from  their  harvests  and  their  homes. 


REV.    JOHN    «%    KINXE,    ».   »• 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE   RAVAGES  OF  WAR. 


JT  has  been  well  said  that  moral  deterioration  is  a 
concomitant  and  a  consequence  of  war.  Destruc- 
tion and  waste  in  every  department  of  society  at- 
tend the  shock  of  arms.  The  saddest  havoc  is  seen 
in  the  sphere  of  religion.  No  other  calamity  is  so 
apt  to  extinguish  the  kindly  light  of  the  Gospel,  or 
undermine  the  foundations  of  virtue. 

The  long  and  exhaustive  conflict  of  the  Revolution 
is  a  most  lamentable  illustration  of  this.  It  is  a  well 
attested  truth  that  the  twenty  years  following  the  war 
was  "  a  time  of  the  lowest  general  morality  in  Amer- 
ican history."  Those  familiar  with  the  ravages  and 
sufferings  of  the  war  in  general  will  ask  no  proof  of 
this.  Some  fifteen  cities  and  numerous  villages  were 
reduced  to  ashes.  Thousands  of  the  best  citizens 
perished  on  the  field  of  battle.  Many  were  held  in 
captivity  or  compelled  to  flee  from  their  homes  to 
find,  on  returning,  their  dwellings  blotted  out  and 
their  households  hopelessly  scattered.  Places  of  wor- 
ship were  in  many  localities  either  burnt  or  converted 
into  hospitals,  prisons,  or  even  stables,  their  pews  and 
gallerirs  cut  up  for  fuel.  Out  of  nineteen  church- 
edifices  in  New  York  only  nine  could  be  used  for 
worship  when  the  war  was  over.  The  ministers  had 
in  numerous  cases  to  flee  for  their  lives.  During  the 
siege  of  Boston  all  but  two  of  the  Boston  pastors 
fled  from  the  city.     Mr.  Schmidt,  the  Lutheran  pastor 


271 


272  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

at  Germantown,  was  obliged  to  do  the  same  while 
the  enemy  occupied  that  place  ;  the  English  posses- 
sion of  New  York  drove  F.  A.  C.  Muhlenberg  away 
from  his  church,  and  on  their  approach  to  Philadel- 
phia his  brother,  Henry  Ernest,  was  compelled  to  flee 
with  his  family.  Returning  for  a  season  he  was  again 
forced  to  retire.  "Disguised  under  a  blanket,  with  a 
rifle  on  his  shoulder,  he  nearly  fell  into  the  enemy's 
hands,  through  the  treachery  of  a  Tory  innkeeper." 

Whole  congregations  were  dispersed  and  in  numer- 
ous cases  absolutely  extinguished.  The  attendance 
of  hundreds  before  the  war  was  reduced  sometimes  to 
less  than  a  dozen  after  its  close.  Of  the  ninety-five 
Episcopal  parishes  in  Virginia,  twenty-three  had 
during  the  progress  of  the  war  become  "extinct  or 
forsaken,  and  of  the  remaining  seventy-two,  thirty- 
four  were  destitute  of  ministerial  services,  while  of  the 
ninety-one  clergymen,  twenty-eight  only  remained 
who  had  lived  through  the  storm."  One  of  the  two 
Lutheran  congregations  in  New  York  city  disappear- 
ed altogether  during  this  period,  while  those  in  New 
Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  suffered  severely. 

"At  Ebenezer,  in  Georgia,"  says  Dr.  Hazelius,  "the 
war  and  its  detrimental  consequences  to  the  cause  of 
religion  were  felt  more  than  in  any  other  part  of  our 
Church.  The  people  were  in  general  attached  to  the 
principles  of  our  revolution.  From  the  very  com- 
mencement they  took  an  active  part  in  favor  of 
liberty.  They  argued  :  '  For  the  sake  of  liberty  we 
have  left  home,  lands,  houses,  estates,  and  have  taken 
refuge  in  the  wilds  of  Georgia;  shall  we  now  again 
submit  to   bondage?     No,  we  will   not.'     Upon   this 


The  Ravages  of   War.  273 

principle  they  acted  throughout  the  contest  and  on 
account  of  their  devotion  to  it  they  were  driven  from 
their  homes  by  the  British  forces.  One  of  their  min- 
isters had  unfortunately  embraced  the  other  side,  and 
actually  went  so  far  in  his  Tory  zeal  and  unnatural 
wickedness,  as  to  lead  the  enemy  to  Ebenezer,  to  aid 
in  the  destruction  of  the  settlements,  and  in  driving 
the  inhabitants  to  the  inhospitable  wilderness.  Their 
beautiful  house  of  God  was  turned  into  a  stable  for 
the  horses  of  the  British  soldiers,  and  sometimes 
served  as  a  Lazaretto  for  the  sick  and  wounded." 
When  the  victorious  close  of  the  war  permitted  the 
poor  exiles  to  return  they  found  their  beloved  Eben- 
ezer destroyed.  They  now  erected  buildings  on  their 
farms  and  plantations  and  thus  became  scattered  over 
a  distance  of  from  two  to  ten  miles  from  the  former 
town  of  Ebenezer.  The  congregation  was  virtually 
broken  up  and  was  without  a  pastor.  And  the  his- 
tory of  this  community  is  but  a  picture  of  the  general 
distress  that  overwhelmed  many  hitherto  flourishing 
conofreofations. 

The  ministers  were  in  large  part  seized  by  the 
martial  spirit  and  rushing  to  the  defense  of  their 
country  abandoned  their  suffering  and  exposd  flocks. 
Some  went  forth  as  chaplains,  others  exchanged  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit  for  the  carnal  weapon.  The  old- 
est son  of  the  Patriarch  Muhlenberg,  John  Peter 
Gabriel,  who  served  both  Lutheran  and  Episcopal 
churches  in  Virginia,  fired  by  the  general  political  and 
patriotic  excitement,  gave  notice  to  hie  congregations 
of  his  farewell  sermon.  A  large  audience  assembled. 
At  the    conclusion    of  divine    service,  he    exclaimed, 


274  The  Lutherans  in  America 

"  There  is  a  time  of  war  and  a  time  of  peace,  and  now 
the  time  to  fight  has  come,"  and  throwing  back  his 
clerical  robe  he  stood  before  them  in  a  colonel's 
uniform  and  the  next  day  was  off  for  the  war. 

Others,  conversant  with  public  affairs,  gave  up,  like 
the  younger  Muhlenberg,  F.  A.  C,  the  pulpit  for  the 
forum,  the  office  of  spiritual  shepherd  of  the  people 
for  that  of  their  political  representative  in  the  halls 
of  legislation. 

Thus  while  the  preaching  and  the  general  influence 
of  the  clergy  had  been  for  some  time  "  rather  martial 
than  sanctifying  and  spiritual,"  their  sermons  sound- 
ing the  notes  of  freedom  and  the  tocsin  of  war,  and 
promoting,  in  this  way,  the  tendency  to  indifferentism 
and  worldliness,  many  now  became  entirely  secular- 
ized. Their  spiritual  warfare  was  doomed  to  a  truce. 
"In  many  localities  the  means  of  grace  were  wholly 
suspended  for  a  long  time,  and  the  religious  safe- 
guards were  broken  down."  The  ministrations  of 
the  Gospel  ceased  just  when  the  need  for  them  was 
sorest.  The  churches  generally  throwing  all  their  in- 
fluence in  support  of  the  cause  of  independence,  expe- 
rienced retroactively  almost  total  paralysis,  especially 
throughout  the  Middle  States,  in  which  the  Lutheran 
congregations  were  mainly  found.  "Religion  suf- 
fered serious  decay,  and  the  churches  presented  a  wide 
scene  of  desolation."  The  revolution  in  government 
was  attended  by  a  revolution  in  the  Church,  which 
was  as  baneful  in  its  fruit  as  the  former  was  bene- 
ficent. 

The    war     for    independence    lasted    eight    years. 
Surely    the    agitations   and  the  immoralities  of  this 


The  Ravages  of   War.  275 

long  period,  the  neglect  of  the  ordinances  and  the 
virtual  suspension  of  spiritual  activity  in  many  com- 
munities, attended  often  by  the  unhappy  division  of 
sentiment  regarding  the  war,  which  separated  families 
and  broke  up  many  prosperous  congregations,  would 
sufficiently  account  for  a  state  of  profound  spiritual 
apathy,  worldliness  and  disorder,  from  which  it 
seemed  for  years  after  the  conclusion  of  peace  impos- 
sible to  rouse  the  churches. 

But  the  devastations  of  the  Revolution  had  been 
preceded  by  the  devastations  and  harassments  of  a 
nine  years' struggle,  1 754-1 763,  between  the  English 
and  the  French  for  the  possession  of  the  country. 
And  they  were  followed  by  a  series  of  national  diffi- 
culties and  political  dissensions,  which  with  the  uni- 
versal financial  distress  and  the  grinding  taxation  be- 
came a  severer  strain  on  patriotism  and  on  morals 
than  the  war  itself  had  been.  That  was  the  critical 
period  of  our  country's  history,  "the  era  of  bad  feel- 
ing," the  dark  age  of  American  Christianity. 

Thus  for  more  than  a  generation,  from  the  outbreak 
of  the  French-Indian  war  to  the  inauguration  of  Pres- 
ident  Washington,  the  whole  country  was  torn  and 
swept  by  the  ravages  of  war,  and  the  churches,  besides 
sharing  in  the  general  suffering,  were  rent  and  deso- 
lated by  the  greater  ravages  of  party  violence  and 
passion.  A  period  of  endless  antagonism  and  irrita- 
tion, a  state  of  restlessness,  recklessness  and  insecur- 
ity, brought  the  public  mind  to  the  verge  of  despair, 
the  Church  to  the  borders  of  destruction. 

The  two  bloody  contests  had  introduced  a  more 
terrible  and  murderous  enemy  than  even  grim-visaged 


276  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

war  itself.  War  slays  its  thousands,  Infidelity  its  tens 
of  thousands.  During  the  French  and  Indian  war 
English  officers  and  soldiers  introduced  deistical  sen- 
timents  among  our  people.  Young  Americans  in  the 
army  readily  imbibed  these  new  ideas,  drank  deeply 
of  the  poisoned  cup  and  on  their  return  home  spread 
the  contagion  among  the  circles  in  which  they  moved, 
producing  everywhere  a  relaxation  in  morals  as  well 
as  a  defection  in  religion. 

The  Revolution  brought  us  the  generous  and  mem- 
orable assistance  of  the  French  arms,  but  the  very 
gratitude  of  our  people  for  this  timely  and  priceless 
intervention,  and  the  peculiarly  friendly  relations 
which  bound  the  two  nations  together,  served  only  to 
predispose  many  of  our  leading  minds  to  French  ideas 
of  religion.  Our  sense  of  indebtedness  assumed  the 
form  of  an  infatuation  for  everything  represented  by 
the  French,  so  that  Americans  became  easy  victims  to 
their  specious  theories.  Our  statesmen,  fired  with  en- 
thusiasm over  France,  came  under  the  spell  of  its 
atheism.  A  frightful  apostasy  from  religion  ensued. 
Skepticism  and  reckless  blasphemy  became  common. 
Infidelity  was  never  more rampantand  more  aggressive 
and  bitter,  never  more  prevalent  among  influential 
citizens  and  professional  men,  never  more  deleterious 
in  its  work.  Revelation  was  decried  as  without 
authority  or  evidence,  moral  obligation  as  a  cobweb. 
"  The  clergy  were  a  laughing  stock  or  objects  of  dis- 
gust." Young  men,  especially,  became  enamored  of 
the  new  ideas.  Bishop  Meade  of  Virginia  wrote  that 
scarcely  a  young  man  of  any  literary  culture  believed 
in  Christianity. 


The  Ravages  of  War.  277 

In  1795  Yale  College  had  but  four  or  five  students 
who  made  profession  of  the  Christian  faith.  Prince- 
ton a  few  years  earlier  reported  two,  and  its  President, 
Dr.  Smith,  complained  grievously  of  the  mischievous 
and  fatal  effects  which  the  prevalent  infidelity  had 
wrought  in  the  moral  and  religious  character  of  the 
students. 

The  minds  of  multitudes  had  become  unsettled. 
There  was  a  general  breaking  away  from  the  old 
moorings  of  faith  and  life.  "  Wild  and  vague  expec- 
tations were  everywhere  entertained  especially  among 
the  young,  of  a  new  order  of  things  about  to  com- 
mence, in  which  Christianity  would  be  laid  aside  as  an 
obsolete    system,    would    altogether    disappear." 

The  Christian  Church,  stricken  and  suffering  from 
the  desolations  of  nearly  twenty  years  of  war,  with 
many  of  her  watchmen,  like  the  Muhlenberg  brothers, 
permanently  detached  from  the  pastoral  office,  was  in 
no  condition  to  stem  this  dark  tide  of  unbelief  with  its 
attendant  decay  of  piety  and  moral  degeneracy.  But 
this  was  not  the  worst.  The  Church  feeling  the 
assaults  of  her  enemies,  and  fully  alive  to  her  perils 
and  responsibilities,  might  even  in  the  face  of  all  these 
untoward  circumstances,  have  withstood  this  onset  of 
the  powers  of  darkness  and  achieved  a  glorious  vic- 
tory by  that  faith  which  overcometh  the  world.  But 
her  sword  had  become  blunted,  the  temper  of  her 
weapons  sadly  vitiated.  An  eviscerated  creed  sapped 
her  energy  and  made  her  impotent  against  the  attacks 
of  a  determined  and  panoplied  foe. 

Coincident  with  the  revolutionary  struggle  and  the 
ensuing  internal  conflicts,  and  doubtless  in  a  measure 


278  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

growing  out  of  and  stimulated  by  these,  a  wave  of  ra- 
tionalism came  into  the  land  and  gradually  passed  over 
all  denominations.  The  spirit  of  independence  was 
abroad,  and  along  with  the  renunciation  of  the  old 
forms  of  government  men  were  ready  to  cast  off  the 
old  forms  of  faith,  to  repudiate  a  strict  spiritual  au- 
thority as  well  as  an  oppressive  political  rule.  With 
freedom  of  religion  made  a  part  of  the  organic  law  of 
the  land  men  advocated  the  broadest  toleration,  the 
utmost  liberty  of  thought,  within  the  pale  of  the 
churches.  Along  with  the  strong  revulsion  against  the 
rio-orous  Calvinism  of  New  England,  came  a  general 
reaction  against  all  "human"  systems  of  faith.  Ortho- 
doxy was  unfashionable.  "Creeds  and  Confessions 
were  abhorred,  and  freely  denounced  in  sermons."  It 
was  even  claimed  that  they  were  "  outworn  "  and  had 
been  "generally  laid  aside."  A  few  fundamentals  were 
all  that  was  needed.  And  doctrines  that  had  always 
been  deemed  fundamental  received  the  sneer  and  sar- 
casm of  the  pulpit.  Reason  was  made  the  arbiter  of 
faith.  Rationalistic  methods  and  contrivances  were 
applied  to  all  phases  of  Christian  revelation  and  life. 
The  Church,  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth,  nur- 
tured and  sheltered  the  spirit  of  doubt  until  she  became 
verily  the  bulwark  of  unbelief.  Instead  of  staying  the 
tide  of  infidelity  and  its  concomitant  dissipation  and 
materialism,  she  contributed  to  swell  its  volume.  And 
it  is  not  without  significance  that  along  with  the  dark 
picture  given  of  the  low  morality  of  the  people,  it  is 
generally  claimed  that  that  of  the  clergy  was  not  much 
higher.  Laxity  of  moral  and  religious  sentiment 
among  all  classes  was  the  feature  of  the  age. 


The  Ravages  of   War.  279 

Thus  the  influences  from  every  quarter  combined 
for  the  corruption  of  society,  for  the  alienation  of  the 
people  from  the  sanctuary,  for  the  depravation  of  the 
faith  and  the  paralysis  of  all  forms  of  Christian  ac- 
tivity. In  the  crisis  that  called  for  the  Church's  most 
earnest  exertions  and  the  marshaling  of  her  spiritual 
powers,  she  was  found  despoiled  of  her  best  armor,  her 
energy  sapped,  her  right  arm  palsied.  What  remained 
in  her  pale  from  the  desolations  of  war  was  taken  pos- 
session of  by  rationalism,  and  rationalism  extinguishes 
Christian  zeal  and  cuts  the  nerve  of  Christian  action. 

This  defection  from  the  faith  extended  to  all  denom- 
inations. Some  of  the  pulpits  openly  espoused  Unita- 
rianism,  others  proclaimed  Universalism,  while  many 
others  gave  voice  to  kindred  forms  of  rationalism,  all 
agreeing  in  their  hostility  to  the  the  theology  of  the 
Reformation. 

It  was  therefore  impossible  for  the  Church  to  fulfil 
her  mission.  Her  enemies  were  intensely  active,  she 
herself  was  lukewarm,  and  her  resistance  to  the  mighty 
foe  was  feeble  and  desultory.  The  degeneracy  of 
morals  in  society  had  a  correlative  in  the  lamentable 
decay  of  piety  in  the  Christian  community.  The 
Church  was  conformed  largely  to  the  lax  and  worldly 
elements  outside  of  it.  Discipline  was  out  of  vogue. 
The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
after  similar  deliverances  in  previous  years,  declared 
in  1798:  "We  perceive  with  pain  and  fearful  appre- 
hension a  general  dereliction  of  religious  principle 
and  practice — an  abounding  infidelity — a  dissolution 
of  religious  society  seems  to  be  threatened.  Formal- 
ity and  deadness,   not  to  say  hypocrisy,  visibly    per- 


280  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

vade  every  part  of  the  Church.  The  profligacy  and 
corruption  of  public  morals  have  advanced  with  a 
progress  proportioned  to  our  declension  in  religion." 

The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  had  her  full 
share  of  these  disastrous  experiences.  Rev.  Storch 
writing  from  North  Carolina,  in  1803,  says:  "Party 
spirit  has  risen  to  a  fearful  height.  The  prevalence 
of  infidelity,  the  contempt  of  the  best  of  all  religions, 
its  usages  and  servants,  the  increase  of  irrelioqon  and 
crime,  have  occasioned  me  many  sad  hours."  She  had 
fearful  trials  in  addition  to  those  which  threatened  the 
extinction  of  other  denominations  that  had  advanced 
beyond  her  in  organization  and  growth.  She  was 
subjected  to  fiery  ordeals  which  once  more  and  to  the 
last  degree  tested  her  vitality  and  her  inherent  powers 
of  endurance. 

The  discontinuance  of  aid  from  the  mother  Church 
in  Germany  which  coincided  with  the  war  between 
England  and  the  colonies,  was  no  calamity.  Com- 
merce was  rendered  precarious,  and  neither  pastors 
nor  literature  nor  any  other  contributions  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  Church  any  longer  flowed  in,  but 
this  was  one  of  those  blessings  that  come  disguised  in 
the  garb  of  adversity.  Rationalism,  now  at  its  height, 
had  poisoned  the  heart  of  Germany.  Even  pietistic 
Halle,  had  become  the  center  of  that  "Illuminism" 
which  made  war  upon  the  old  faith  in  the  creeds  and 
liturgies  and  hymns  of  the  Reformation.  It  was  a 
sovereign  mercy  to  the  Lutheran  Church  of  America 
that  intercourse  with  Germany  was  broken  off  just  at 
this  juncture,  and  that  young,  feeble  and  exposed  as 
she  was,  she  escaped  the  full  force  of  that  destructive 


The  Ravages  of   War.  281 

rationalism,  which  reigned  in  the  latter  country  and  in 
many  localities  uprooted  the  institutions  of  the  Gos- 
pel. It  was  enough  that  she  became  a  prey  to  the 
dominant  laxity  of  faith  in  this  country  and  to  the  in- 
direct influences  of  unbelief  which  from  time  to  time 
were  borne  to  her  bosom  in  her  own  language  from 
across  the  sea. 

A  peculiar  trial  involved  in  the  development  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  in  America,  scarcely  less  serious 
than  the  temporary  defection  of  doctrine  and  as  wide 
reaching  and  pernicious  in  its  consequences,  was  the 
conflict  of  language.  This  ordeal,  relatively  unknown 
to  other  communities,  she  had  unfortunately  to  en- 
counter in  this  critical  period.  The  three  large 
Dutch  Reformed  conorregfations  jn  jsjew  York,  in 
whose  services  an  English  note  had  never  been 
heard  before  the  Revolution,  readily  accepted  the  in- 
evitable, and  surrendered  the  dialect  of  the  Stuyve- 
sants,  but  the  great  body  of  our  German  ancestors 
had  no  idea  of  making  such  a  concession  to  the  Ian- 
guage  of  their  adopted  country. 

To  say  nothing  of  the  much  greater  preponderance 
of  Germans  in  comparison  with  the  Dutch,  or  of  the 
steadfastness  and  tenacity  which  characterizes  the 
German  mind,  it  is  certainly  not  to  the  discredit  of 
those  people  that  they  clung  with  a  religious  and  pas- 
sionate devotion  to  their  mother  tongue,  the  tongue 
of  their  fatherland  and  of  their  holy  mother  Church. 
To  part  with  a  language  means  far  more  than  the  sur- 
render of  forms  of  expression,  grammatical  structure 
and  linguistic  idioms.  It  is  almost  equivalent  to  the 
immolation  of  a  people  on  the  altar  of  a  foreign  and 


282  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

unfriendly  race.  Their  past  is  to  be  severed  from  their 
future.  The  ideas,  the  modes  of  thought,  the  literary 
and  devotional  treasures,  the  usages  and  the  habits  of 
a  people,  their  most  sacred  traditions,  their  very  his- 
tory, must  sooner  or  later  be  given  up  and  lost,  when 
once  their  language  is  no  longer  the  vehicle  of  their 
daily  intercourse  and  of  their  public  worship.  The 
fear  has  often  been  voiced  that  the  very  faith  of  a 
people  loses  its  identity  and  individuality  by  being 
transferred  to  another  tongue. 

It  is  the  refinement  of  cruelty  as  well  as  the  height 
of  political  sagacity  when  tyrants  compel  the  con- 
quered races  in  their  dominion  to  use  the  language  of 
the  conqueror  in  every  department  of  education.  A 
province  is  not  subdued  until  it  surrenders  its  vernac- 
ular. To  what  extent  the  fathers  in  this  country  com- 
prehended the  significance  of  the  change  we  do  not 
know,  but  they  contended  against  it  with  a  violence 
and  a  persistence  as  if  the  loss  of  their  language  in 
public  worship  was  tantamount  to  the  extinction  of 
their  Church  and  the  loss  of  all  that  was  dear. 

The  Lutheran  Church  of  America  glories  to-day  in 
her  polyglot  character  and  rejoices  in  the  Providence 
that  enables  her  ministers,  like  the  Apostles  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  to  declare  to  all  the  diversified  na- 
tionalities that  flock  to  these  shores,  "in  their  own 
tongues,  the  wonderful  works  of  God."  This  certainly 
emphasizes  the  world-wide  reach  of  her  mission  and 
the  golden  harvests  that  await  her  sickle  in  all  com- 
munities and  localities.  But  the  language  problem 
has  also  proved  to  her  the  occasion  of  untold  calam- 
ities.    The   fierce   opposition    to   the    introduction  of 


The  Ravages  of   War.  283 

English  services,  the  unprotestant  attempt  to  confine 
her  worship  to  a  foreign    tongue,  became   in    all    the 
great  centres  of  population  the  most  serious  obstacle 
to  her  success,  lost  multitudes  to  her  fold,  limited  her 
sphere,  cramped  her  spirit,  confined  her  influence,  and 
placed  her  at  such  disadvantage  to  the  other  Churches 
of  the  land  that  even  to  this  day,  after  bleeding  and 
suffering  from  it  for   a  hundred  years,  the    Lutheran 
Church  still  feels  the  consequences  of  this  policy.     It 
was  as  ruinous  in  results  as  it  was  irrational  in  theory. 
It  was   essentially  a  blow  at  her    life.     The  effort  to 
make  the  Lutheran  Church  a  church  for  the  Germans 
only  was  a  stab  at   her    evangelical    and    apostolical 
character,  which    devolves    upon  her  the    mission   of 
giving  the   restored  Gospel  to  the  world  and  preach- 
ino-  it  in  every  tongue.     It  was  the  renunciation  of  her 
birthright.     It  was  casting  aside  her  crown.     No  won- 
der that  in  some  localities  it  almost  caused  her  extinc- 
tion and    in  all    places  it  inflicted  on  her  irreparable 

injury. 

This  opposition  to  English  did  not  manifest  itself 
in  the  earlier  colonial  period.  Muhlenberg  conducted 
English  services  before  he  was  in  the  country  a  year, 
and  in  New  York  he  officiated  in  Dutch  and  English 
as  well  as  in  German.  So  his  colleagues  and  his  sons 
eagerly  mastered  the  language  of  the  country  that  they 
might  extend  the  area  of  their  ministrations,  recogniz- 
ing the  duty  of  providing  the  young  as  well  as  their 
unchurched  fellow-citizens  with  the  word  of  life,  and 
doubtless  foreseeing  the  inevitable  disasters  which 
must  follow  the  neglect  of  opportunities  and  the  fail- 
ure to  meet  responsibilities.     An  English  address  was 


284  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

delivered  at  the  dedication  of  St.  Michael's  in  1748. 
Handschuh,  who  became  pastor  at  Germantown  in 
1 75 1,  officiated  there  occasionally  in  the  English 
language.  Their  Swedish  contemporaries  were  capa- 
ble of  using  the  English  tongue  and  preached  it  not 
only  in  their  own  churches  but  very  frequently  also  in 
the  churches  of  their  English  neighbors.  Pastor  Rud- 
man  early  in  the  eighteenth  century  supplied  regular- 
ly two  Episcopal  churches  in  and  near  Philadelphia 
during  the  vacancy  of  their  pulpits.  Hesselius  in  1721 
received  ten  pounds  per  annum  from  the  "  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  "  for  preaching  twenty 
times  a  year  in  the  vacant  English  churches. 

The  Episcopal  Church  in  its  feeble  infancy  in  Penn- 
sylvania was  nursed  by  the  Swedish  pastors,  who  at 
various  places  and  for  considerable  periods  preached 
in  its  pulpits  while  the  congregations  were  destitute 
of  a  pastor  of  their  own  order.  And  this  they  did,  too, 
not  for  any  worldly  gain,  for  they  often  received  no 
compensation  for  their  labor,  not  even  the  payment  of 
their  expenses.  They  were  in  fact  instructed  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Sweden  "to  attend  no  vacant  English 
congregations  for  a  salary  or  for  the  sake  of  gain." 
Should  they  find  time  from  their  arduous  labors  among 
their  own  conoreo-ations  to  visit  the  destitute  English 
population,  they  should  do  this  from  the  promptings 
of  Christian  charity,  and  such  services  as  they  con- 
ducted for  them,  they  were  further  charged,  must  be 
"according  to  our  Evangelical  Lutheran  doctrine  and 
discipline." 

They  ministered  in  this  way,  from  time  to  time,  to 
quite  a  number  of  Episcopal  congregations  and,  in  fact. 


The  Ravages  of   War.  285 

as  the  Episcopalians  were  then  but  few  and  in  mean 
circumstances  in  this  province,  kept  some  of  them  from 
extinction.  Their  services  were  in  demand  by  the 
English  residents  in  every  quarter,  the  people  entreat- 
ing their  administration  of  the  ordinances,  as  "other- 
wise their  children  would  become  unchristened  heath- 
en, or  Quakers,  and  their  churches  would  be  changed 
into  stables  alongside  of  Ouaker  meeting-houses." 
Their  "ready  assistance  and  substantial  services  "were 
acknowledged  by  Episcopal  clergymen.  Although 
their  preaching  and  their  ministrations  gave  them 
great  influence  with  these  Episcopal  congregations,  and 
they  are  said  to  have  been  as  popular  with  them  as 
with  their  own  people,  they  were  so  devoid  of  the  sec- 
tarian spirit  that  it  never  occurred  to  them  to  alienate 
these  congregations  from  their  denominational  body, 
though  this  might  no  doubt  have  been  easily  accom- 
plished. When  the  situation  was  in  after  years  unfortu- 
nately reversed,  and  these  very  Swedish  churches  had 
to  seek  supplies  from  the  Episcopal  clergy,  the  spirit 
which  dominated  this  assistance  was  also  the  reverse 
of  that  which  prompted  the  Lutheran  ministers  with 
great  personal  sacrifice  to  dispense  the  Gospel  to  their 
Anodican  brethren.  How  such  ignoble  sectarianism 
succeeded  in  wresting  those  churches  from  the  parent 
trunk  need  not  here  be  detailed. 

Most  of  the  pastors  who  served  the  Swedish  churches 
and  rendered  so  much  assistance  to  the  Episcopalians 
were  men  of  liberal  education  and  quite  acceptable 
preachers,  and  as  a  rule  could  officiate  very  satisfac- 
torily both  in  German  and  in  English.  Their  own  con- 
gregations were   at  an  early  period  quite  willing  to 


286  The  Lutherans  in  America 

have  the  English  introduced,  the  English  services 
being  regularly  conducted  in  the. afternoon,  sometimes 
at  night.  Some  churches  had  "generally  double 
preaching,  first  in  German,  then  in  English,  almost 
every  Sunday."  This  was  felt  to  be  necessary  not 
only  for  the  sake  of  some  of  the  Swedish  descendants 
who  did  not  understand  Swedish,  but  also  for  the  sake 
of  so  many  English  living  around,  who  although  con- 
nected with  the  English  Church  would  otherwise  have 
had  no  church  service.  At  the  funeral  of  pastor  Tran- 
berg  in  1748  an  English  discourse  was  delivered.  In 
1763  Von  Wrangel  delivered  a  series  of  lectures  in  St. 
Michael's  Church  in  the  same  language. 

Sometimes  the  newly  arrived  Swedish  pastors  felt 
constrained  to  attempt  preaching  in  English  before 
they  had  a  sufficient  command  of  the  language.  But 
they  made  rapid  progress  in  its  acquisition  and  soon 
delighted  their  English  auditors.  One  of  them,  the 
Rev.  Dylander,  whose  Christian  zeal  and  fluency  in 
the  German  enabled  him  to  found  German  churches 
at  Germantown  and  Lancaster,  regularly  conducted 
an  early  morning  service  in  German  in  his  church  at 
Wicacoa,  preached  at  the  usual  hour  in  Swedish  and  in 
the  afternoon  in  English,  and  his  English  was  so  ele- 
gant and  his  address  so  engaging  that  he  captivated 
the  English  population,  and  he  became  so  popular 
with  that  element  that  he  was  called  upon  to  solem- 
nize most  of  their  marriages.  This  so  excited  the  Eng- 
lish Episcopal  clergyman  that  he  lodged  a  complaint 
against  him  before  the  Governor,  who,  however,  de- 
clined interfering,  declaring  that  the  people  had  in  this 
country  the  right  to  get  married  wherever  they  pleased. 


The  Ravages  of    War.  287 

Von    Wrangel    also   drew    such     crowds  that    he    was 
obliged  often  to  preach  in  the  open  air. 

No  serious  disturbance  seems  to  have  been  caused 
by  the  use  of  several  languages  in  public  worship 
prior  to  the  Revolutionary  war.  Even  amid  the 
storms  of  the  great  conflict  Rev.  Streit  introduced  it 
in  South  Carolina.  Pastor  Knoll,  who  withdrew  from 
the  New  York  church  in  1750,  was  accustomed  to  hold 
English  services  there.  The  patriarch  Muhlenberg 
during  his  brief  pastorates  in  that  city  in  1  75 1  and  1  752 
held  an  English  service  each  Sunday  evening,  which 
was  more  largely  attended  than  any  other  service. 
"  The  descendants  of  the  Dutch  families,  who  could  no 
longer  speak  or  understand  the  tongue  of  their  fathers, 
and  many  of  the  surrounding  community  crowded  the 
church."  Many  Episcopalians  were  in  attendance. 
This  may  have  been  the  real  ground  for  the  complaint 
that  his  loud  preaching  disturbed  the  worship  in  Trin- 
ity Church  just  across  the  street.  It  was  the  first  even- 
ing service  of  any  kind  ever  held  in  the  church  and 
as  no  fixtures  for  lighting  the  building  had  been  pro- 
vided, candles  were  fastened  on  top  of  the  pews. 
"  There  was  but  one  copy  of  the  Hymn  Book  used  on 
hand  and  Mr.  Muhlenberg  was  wont  to  give  out  the 
lines  and  lead  the  sineine.  When  he  found  that  the 
German  chorals  were  unfamiliar  to  the  English  audi- 
ence he  selected  hymns  with  metres  found  also  in 
English  hymns  and  used  familiar  English  tunes,  when 
the  whole  congregation  united  heartily."  Dr.  B.  M. 
Schmucker  further  observes:  "However  Mr.  Berken- 
meier  may  have  disliked  the  pietists,  there  were  many 
earnest  Christian  souls  in  the  surrounding  congrega- 


288  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

tions  who  were  drawn  to  the  services  by  the  fervent, 
pungent,  practical  and  evangelical  preaching  of  Muh- 
lenberg. The  English  urged  the  erection  of  galleries 
in  the  church  to  accommodate  the  numerous  attend- 
ants. 

The  impulse  thus  given  to  the  prosperity  of  that 
congregation,  the  large  attendance  of  such  as  were  not 
identified  with  the  Lutheran  Church  or  with  the  Ger- 
man population,  indicate  what  might  have  been  had 
the  language  of  the  country  at  the  right  juncture  been 
everywhere  introduced  into  Lutheran  worship.  It  ad- 
mits of  no  question  that  if  Muhlenberg  could  have 
remained  at  New  York,  Trinity  Lutheran  Church 
would  not  only  have  become  united  and  very  strong 
but  would  at  an  early  day  have  grown  into  a  flourish- 
ing English  Lutheran  congregation.  Nor  can  there 
be  any  doubt  that  such  a  congregation  in  New  York 
a  century  ago  would  have  immeasurably  affected  the 
development  of  Lutheranism  in  that  city,  and  that  the 
Mother  of  Protestantism  would  hold  there  to-day  a 
commanding  and  influential  position  second  to  no 
other  communion. 

This  liberal  policy  of  the  patriarch  and  his  col- 
leagues, so  consonant  with  the  Protestant  character  of 
the  Church,  so  well  adapted  to  her  mission  and  so  full 
of  promise,  was  unhappily  and  completely  reversed  at 
the  close  of  the  Revolution.  And  the  excitements, 
animosities  and  convulsions  of  that  protracted  strug- 
gle had  no  little  share  in  bringing  about  this  ill-fated 
change,  which  seriously  arrested  the  progress  of  the 
Church  and  for  a  long  period  crippled  her  activity 
and  confined    her    influence.     The    spirit   which    had 


WITTENBERG   COLLEGE,   SPRTNGETELD,    OHIO. 


290  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

been  raised  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  and  sustainino- 
the  revolt  did  not  subside  when  the  contest  was  over. 
It  remained  to  plague  the  land  as  the  demon  of  strife 
and  of  party  spirit  in  all  the  relations  of  society.  The 
people  had  been  long  habituated  to  contend  for  their 
rights,  to  resent  the  slightest  infringement  of  them,  to 
chafe  against  all  forms  of  government  and  to  resist 
everything  that  savored  of  authority.  They  were 
irritable,  contentious,  ready  to  quarrel  over  any  trifle, 
with  no  respect  for  magistrates  and  no  consideration 
for  the  rights  of  others.  Political  excitement  kept  the 
public  mind  at  the  highest  tension  and  domestic 
commotions  often  threatened  greater  calamities  than 
a  foreign   foe   had  inflicted. 

That  the  Germans  had  a  serenity  of  temper  and 
pacific  instincts  which  kept  them  out  of  the  general 
turmoil,  is  not  to  be  expected.  It  is  not  their  nature. 
Nay  their  communities  had  some  additional  and  pecu- 
liar causes  of  irritation  and  bad  feeling.  The  people 
had  been  lamentably  divided  in  their  attitude  toward 
the  war.  "Many  of  the  old  German  settlers,  who  had 
on  their  arrival  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
British  Crown,  conscientiously  entertained  the  opinion 
that  they  ought  not  to  act  contrary  to  their  sworn 
promise,  while  the  majority  of  their  brethren  in  the 
faith  adopted  without  hesitation  the  new  order  of 
things,  and  cheerfully  defended  the  cause  of  liberty 
and  independence  with  their  blood  and  treasure." 
This  difference  of  sentiment  was  the  occasion  of  great 
bitterness  of  feeling  and  caused  not  only  blighting 
divisions  in  families  but  in  many  cases  destroyed 
flourishing  congregations. 


The  Ravages  of   War.  291 

Such  was  the  state  of  mind  in  which  the  people 
were  found  when  the  German  churches  had  to  meet 
the  problem  of  introducing  the  English  language,  a 
problem  on  which  was  suspended  the  life  or  the  death 
of  the  Church  in  this  country.  For  its  solution  there 
was  needed  pre-eminently  a  spirit  of  conciliation,  a 
supreme  purpose  to  harmonize  by  concessions,  to 
effect  unity  and  promote  the  general  good  by  the  sur- 
render of  individual  preference  and  rights.  But  these 
golden  virtues  were  unhappily  absent  and  the  respec- 
tive congregations  were  so  charged  with  contentions, 
factions,  and  arbitrary  elements,  that  the  proposal  to 
introduce  the  language  of  the  nation  was  the  signal 
for  the  outbreak  of  strife  and  bitter  dissensions,  and 
the  temporary  triumph  of  the  opposition  paralyzed 
the  energies  of  the  Church  and  arrested  her  normal 
development. 

How  much  German  conservatism  may  have  contrib- 
uted to  this  conflict,  how  far  those  tardy  and  unpro- 
gressive  national  characteristics,  which  never  hurry 
to  conform  to  new  conditions  and  never  chano-e 
merely  for  the  sake  of  change,  may  have  united  with 
the  stormy  passions  of  the  period  in  the  fixed  opposi- 
tion to  the  use  of  English  cannot  now  be  determined. 
German  became  the  party  clamor.  German  literature, 
German  education,  German  character,  was  all  the  cry, 
and  blinded  by  prejudice  and  passion,  possibly  too  re- 
strained in  some  measure  by  reverence  for  ancestral 
institutions  and  the  mother  tongue,  these  people  mor- 
bidly failed  to  understand  that  the  founding  of  a  new 
nation  meant  inevitably  the  obliteration  of  national 
distinctions,  to  which   the   Church,  according  to   her 


292  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

own  genius  and  mission,  must  at  every  cost  except  the 
sacrifice  of  truth  adapt  herself. 

The  contention  was  sharp,  violent  and  protracted. 
In  some  places,  as  in  Philadelphia,  the  parties  were 
pretty  equally  divided  and  the  annual  election  of 
officers  turned  on  this  question  and  witnessed  scenes 
more  becoming  a  political  convention  than  the  house 
of  God.  As  many  as  1400  votes  were  polled  in  the 
joint  congregation  in  the  year  1806,  and  when  the  Ger- 
man party  once  more  won  the  day  a  colony  withdrew 
and  founded  St.  John's,  the  first  exclusively  English 
church  in  Pennsylvania,  which  for  more  than  fifty  years 
had  for  its  pastor  Rev.  Philip  F.  Mayer,  D.  D.,  one  of 
the  most  accomplished  and  useful  men  that  have  hon- 
ored the  Lutheran  pulpit. 

So  fixed  was  the  determination  of  many  to  have  the 
German  tongue  not  only  during  their  natural  lives  but 
to  perpetuate  it  at  any  cost,  that  the  civil  law  was  in- 
voked and  the  congregations  adopted  charters  requir- 
ing the  exclusive  and  permanent  use  of  the  German. 
The  language  of  worship  must  be  as  unalterable  as  the 
laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  Even  the  Ministe- 
rium  "  must  remain  a  German-speaking  body,"  and  it 
was  enacted  that  "  no  proposition  can  be  entertained 
which  would  render  necessary  any  other  language 
than  the  German  in  synodical  meetings  and  business 
transactions." 

Education,  literature,  legislation,  courts,  ordinary 
trade  and  public  intercourse,  were  conducted  in  the 
English  lanofuao-e,  whereas  the  Church  called  of  God 
to  permeate,  purify  and  sanctify  all  these,  was  by  a 
strange  infatuation  decreed  to  be  German.     That  she 


The  Ravages  of   War  293 

survived  such  a  suicidal  policy  is  another  proof  that 
her  life  is  from  God,  and  that  notwithstanding  the  per- 
versity and  unfaithfulness  which  at  times  are  opposed 
to  her  progress,  the  gates  of  hell  cannot  prevail  against 
her.  Only  a  divine  institution  can  survive  the  follies 
and  passions  of  its  adherents. 

While  this  hostility  to  using  the  language  of  the 
country  in  public  worship  proved  exceedingly  detri- 
mental to  the  general  interests  of  the  Church,  its  ruin- 
ous effects  were  especially  glaring  in  the  large  cities  of 
New  York  and  Philadelphia.  In  the  former  city  the 
Anglicized  descendants  of  the  Dutch  as  well  as 
the  rising  generation  of  the  Germans  were  constrained 
to  separate  by  hundreds  and  even  thousands  from  the 
Church  of  their  fathers,  and  in  Philadelphia  a  similar 
withdrawal  of  the  educated  and  progressive  elements 
went  on  for  years.  Many  who  remained  became  in- 
different to  sanctuary  services  of  which  they  under- 
stood but  little,  and  lost  their  interest  in  a  church  that 
refused  to  them  and  their  children  the  Gospel  in  the 
language  of  their  country.  And  these  serious  losses 
aggravated  in  turn  the  strife  between  the  parties  who 
favored  and  those  who  opposed  the  introduction 
of  English,  rendering  peace  and  prosperity  impos- 
sible. 

This  insane  policy  opposed  to  the  providence  of 
God  and  the  universal  practice  of  Protestants,  as  well 
as  to  the  dictates  of  reason,  caused  immeasurable  in- 
jury to  all  the  best  interests  of  the  Church.  Its  most 
far-reaching  and  disastrous  consequence  was  the  insur- 
mountable barrier  it  raised  to  the  establishment  of 
schools  for  higher  education   and   for  the  training  of 


294  TJie  Lutlicrans  in  America. 

candidates  for  the  sacred  office.  The  Synod  as  well 
as  the  principal  congregations  being  divided  into  war- 
ring factions,  harmony  of  operation,  so  essential  to 
success  in  any  project,  was  out  of  the  question.  The 
Germans  could  not  favor  the  founding  of  an  institu- 
tion  which  would  inevitably  give  prominence  to  Eng- 
lish and  strengthen  that  element.  The  English  party 
had  no  mind  to  contribute  to  an  academy  or  college 
designed  to  perpetuate  the  German  as  the  language 
of  their  Church.  Thus  for  nearly  half  a  century  all 
educational  movements  were  frustrated.  And  that 
church  which  is  the  parent  of  modern  education  as 
surely  as  she  is  the  mother  of  Protestantism,  was  left 
without  a  single  educational  agency  except  her  paroch- 
ial schools,  and  a  large  portion  of  her  ministry  and 
especially  her  laity  sank  to  a  level  of  intelligence  that 
became  as  much  of  a  reproach  as  it  was  a  calamity. 

In  spite  of  the  unhappy  condition  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  this  period,  in  spite  of  the  overwhelming 
obstacles  which  she  encountered  and  which  cast  their 
portentous  shadows  far  into  the  future,  there  was  some 
advance,  some  extension  of  her  borders.  But  it  did 
not  have  the  proportions  which  the  faithful  labors  and 
the  bright  prospects  of  the  previous  period  had  antici- 
pated and  which  the  golden  opportunities  now  war- 
ranted. Contrasted  with  the  activities  and  progress 
of  the  Church  before  the  war,  this  has  been  very  prop- 
erly regarded  an  era  of  declension.  Yet  there  was 
life.  The  word  of  the  cross  resounded  from  many 
Lutheran  pulpits  and  silently  wrought  as  the  power  of 
God  unto  salvation.  Many  of  the  ablest  preachers 
were  indeed  heard  no  more.     Schaum,  after  a  faithful 


The  Ravages  of   War.  295 

ministry  of  thirty-three  years,  entered  into  his  rest  in 
1778.  The  elder  Muhlenberg,  after  a  career  of  un- 
surpassed usefulness  and  apostolic  power,  extending 
over  a  period  of  forty-five  years,  passed  away  amid 
the  most  touching  expressions  of  his  faith  and  love  on 
October  7,  1787.  His  two  gifted  sons,  Frederick  A. 
C.  and  John  Peter  Gabriel,  who  had  begun  their  min- 
isterial labors  before  they  had  reached  their  majority, 
and  had  early  developed  -  eminent  capacity  for  the 
sacred  calling,  had  been  swept  by  patriotic  enthu- 
siasm, the  one  into  the  arena  of  politics,  the  other 
into  the  field  of  battle.  And  they  never  returned  to 
the  ministrations  of  the  altar,  but  filled  spheres  of 
usefulness  and  distinction  in  the  service  of  their 
country.  Frederick  was  elected  to  the  Continental 
Congress  in  1779,  was  re-elected  a  number  of  times, 
and  in  the  first  and  third  Congress  after  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution  was  chosen  Speaker  of  the  House. 
Peter  became  a  Major-General  in  the  army,  sustained 
intimate  relations  to  General  Washington,  was  elected 
Vice-President  of  Pennsylvania  in  1785  when  Frank- 
lin was  chosen  President,  was  a  member  of  the  First 
Congress,  the  Third  and  the  Sixth.  In  1801  he  be- 
came a  United  States  Senator,  which  post  he  resigned 
to  accept  the  appointment  from  Jefferson  of  Collector 
of  the  Port  at  Philadelphia.  His  statue  in  the  National 
House  of  Representatives  is  one  of  the  two  contribu- 
ted by  Pennsylvania  to  that  illustrious  collection  of 
patriots  and  statesmen. 

But  what  was  gain  to  the  state  was  loss  to  the 
church.  The  odorious  achievements  of  such  men  in 
political  life  show  what  they  might  have  accomplished 


296  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

had  they  returned  to  the  Church  which  needed  their 
services  even  more  than  the  young  republic.  And  it 
is  an  example  of  the  ordeal  which  the  Church  had  to 
sustain  at  that  time,  through  the  diversion  of  much  of 
her  most  serviceable  material  to  the  paths  of  civil  life. 
The  Muhlenbergs  undoubtedly  illustrate  the  general 
tendency  of  the  age.  The  interests  of  the  Church 
were  sacrificed  to  the  urgent  and  all-engrossing  po- 
litical and  material  issues. 

Provost  Von  Wrangel  of  the  Swedish  churches,  the 
loving  and  sweet  friend  of  Muhlenberg,  who  had  been 
personally  a  source  of  great  encouragement  to  him, 
who  had  rendered  invaluable  services  to  the  Church 
in  general  and  guided  many  souls  to  the  experience 
of  grace,  had  been  recalled  to  Sweden,  and  had  pre- 
ceded his  noble  friend  to  the  heavenly  reward.  Ger- 
ock,  who  had  preached  fourteen  years  at  Lancaster, 
had  served  as  its  first  pastor  and  for  six  years  the 
new  and  spacious  Christ  Church  in  New  York,  died 
as  pastor  of  the  church  in  Baltimore,  in  1787,  after  a 
pastorate  of  fourteen  years.  Other  devoted  and  faith- 
ful men,  having  in  less  conspicuous  scenes  rendered 
the  full  measure  of  their  strength  to  the  cause,  were 
from  time  to  time  summoned  to  their  rest,  and  there 
were  but  few  of  equal  capacity  and  devotion  to  take 
their  places.  No  more  laborers  were  sent  over  by 
the  Halle  Directors,  the  Rev.  J.  F.  Weinland,  who 
arrived  in  1783,  being  the  last.  Nor  were  there  any 
further  arrivals  from  Sweden,  the  last  beino-  Nicholas 
Collin,  sent  over  in  1 77 1.  Before  the  close  of  the 
Revolution  the  Swedes  had  to  seek  supplies  from  the 
Episcopal  churches. 


The  Ravages  of   War.  297 

To  reinforce  the  ministry  to  any  extent  from  the 
native  population  was  out  of  the  question.  The 
schools  of  the  country  had  been  almost  everywhere 
broken  up  by  the  war,  and  the  youth  who  should  have 
been  acquiring  their  education  for  the  ministry  were 
either  called  into  the  military  service  or,  in  the  absence 
of  the  father  in  that  service,  required  to  take  his  place 
on  the  farm  or  in  the  shop. 

Yet  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  did  not  suffer  his  fields 
to  be  wholly  desolate.     Good   and  worthy  and  able 
men   labored  with   marked   efficiency  in  various  parts 
of  the  land.     Helmuth   and  Schmidt,  as  joint  pastors, 
had  charge  of  the  large  congregation  in  Philadelphia, 
worshiping   in  the  two  churches  of  St.  Michael's  and 
Zion.      The  former  was   one   of  the    most   eloquent 
men  of  his  day,  and  adhering  strictly  to  the  orthodox 
faith  and  speakingwith  the  unction  of  spiritual  fervor, 
he   held    and    swayed    his    large  audiences  as  with  a 
spell.     Schmidt  was  inferior  to  him  in  the  gift  of  elo- 
cution, but  was  uniformly  instructive  in  the  pulpit  and 
was   most   admired   by  his   most    intelligent   hearers. 
He,  too,  was  strictly  orthodox  and  firmly  opposed  to 
the  growing  latitude  which  began  to  prevail  among 
his  brethren.     Both  of  them  were  uncommonly  faith- 
ful in  their  pastoral  ministrations,  and  manifested  in 
every  way  the  deepest  concern  for  the  spiritual  life  of 
their  congregation.       During   the    prevalence  of  the 
yellow  fever  in   Philadelphia,  in    1793,  they  displayed 
heroic    self-sacrifice    in    ministering  to    the   sick   and 
burying   the  dead.     On    one   occasion  when  six  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  of  his  members  had  already  been 
buried,    Dr.   Helmuth    said   from    the    pulpit,    "Look 


298  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

upon  me  as  a  dead  man,"  and  immediately  went  forth 
again  to  attend  the  sick  and  the  dying. 

F.  D.  Schaeffer,  D.  D.,  a  devout  and  holy  man,  a  dis- 
ciple of  the  Arndt  and  Spener  school,  labored  with 
notable  zeal  and  success  at  Germantown,  and  when 
subsequently  transferred  to  Philadelphia  as  the  suc- 
cessor of  Schmidt,  actively  urged  that  provision  be 
made  for  those  who  understood  only  the  English  lan- 
guage, a  position  which  is  said  to  have  caused  him 
great  suffering  and  the  issue  of  which  deeply  grieved 
him.  Besides  his  personal  labors  which  are  held  in 
perpetual  remembrance  by  his  congregations  he  gave 
to  the  Lutheran  ministry  his  four  sons,  all  men  of  solid 
gifts  and  of  eminent  worth. 

Dr.  David  Frederick  Schaeffer,  a  man  "almost  un- 
rivaled for  general  personal  attractions,  who  labored 
in  season  and  out  of  season  ;  in  town  and  in  the  coun- 
try;  on  the  Sabbath  and  during  the  week;  in  the  pul- 
pit and  out  of  the  pulpit ;  beside  the  sick-bed  and  in 
the  catechetical  class;"  and  held  an  intimate  and  influ- 
ential relation  to  all  the  leading  movements  of  his  own 
denomination,  and  with  many  important  public  enter- 
prises out  of  it,  began  preaching  at  Frederick,  Md.,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one  and  continued  his  indefatigable 
labors  there  for  thirty  years.  He  was  the  founder  of 
the  first  English  periodical  in  the  Church.  Frederick 
Solomon  was  pastor  at  Hagerstown  and  died  at  the 
age  of  twenty-five.  Dr.  Frederick  Christian  during 
his  three  years  pastorate  at  Harrisburg  succeeded  in 
introducing  English  services.  In  181 5  he  accepted  a 
call  to  Christ  Church  in  the  city  of  New  York,  where 
he  preached  in  two  languages  until  the  erection  of  St 


The  Ravages  of  War.  299 

Matthew's  church  in  ,823,  from  which  time  he  preached 
exclusively  in  English.  Dr.  Charles  Frederick  Schaef- 
fer,  whose  noble,  intellectual  and  moral  quaht.es  made 
him  a  man  of  mark  throughout  the  Church  for  fifty 
years,  and  whose  labors  as  author,  and  as  professor 
successively  in  the  three  principal  theological  institu- 
tions maintained  by  the  Church  in  his  time,  secured 
him  an  influence  not  surpassed  by  any  of  his  contem- 
poraries, entered  the  ministry  in  1832. 

Dr  1  C.Kunze's  extensive  culture  constituted  him  an 

« ornament  of  the  American  Republic  of  letters.       He 
was  one  of  the  most  profound  men  of  his  day,  and  he 
has  always  been  considered  one  of  the  brightest  lights 
that  ever  shone  in  the  American   Lutheran  Church, 
which  in  turn  he  regarded  with  an  enthusiastic  devo- 
tion     He   spent  fourteen    years   as  the  associate  of 
Helmuth  in  Philadelphia,  and   twenty-three   years  in 
laboring  under  great  discouragements  and  trials  lor 
the   upbuilding  of  his   beloved  Church  in  the  city  of 
New  York.     He   belonged   to   the  strict  confessional 
party  but  was  tolerant  towards  slight  departures.    He 
rejoiced  with  Helmuth  over  the  fire  which  was  kindled 
in   their  congregation  in  the  year   1782,  and  later  at 
New  York.     Those  were  precious  hours  to  him  when 
a  penitent  in  tears  came  seeking  help  in  the  interests 
of  his  soul.     His  fearless  rebuke  of  the  desecration  of 
the    Lord's  day  exposed   him    to   scurnllous  attacks 
from   his  German   countrymen.     When   the   political 
and   atheistical   ideas  of  the   French  Revolution   be- 
gan to   pervade  the  community    to    an  alarming  ex- 
tent   he   entered    the   lists   along   with  such  eminent 
divines  as   Mason.  Linn   and   Livingston,  "to  sound 


300  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

the   alarm  of  danger   then  threatening   our   firesides 
and  our  altars." 

Henry  Ernest  Muhlenberg,  D.  D.,  the  youngest  son 
of  "the  Patriarch,"  was  a  profound  theologian  and  an 
orieinal  thinker,  who  held  to  the  great  truths  of  Chris- 
tianity  with  much  tenacity,  but  "  could  allow  very 
considerable  latitude  on  minor  points."  He  was 
pastor  of  the  Church  at  Lancaster  for  thirty-five 
years  and  maintained  the  most  watchful  oversight  of 
the  spiritual  state  of  his  flock.  Rev.  Benjamin  Kel- 
ler, one  of  his  spiritual  children,  speaks  of  him  as  a 
"model  pastor  "  and  among  other  things  states  that 
"he  appointed  two  days  in  the  week  immediately  pre- 
ceding the  Communion  for  private  conversation  with 
those  who  intended  to  join  in  it.  This  gave  him  an 
opportunity  of  finding  out  the  spiritual  state  of  the 
communicants,  and  of  counseling,  admonishing,  en- 
couraging, comforting  as  the  respective  cases  might 
require."  Was  it  the  prevalence  of  lax  views  of  the 
Sacrament  that  led  to  the  discontinuance  of  this  prac- 
tice, which  at  one  time  was  general  in  the  Church  and 
which  must  commend  itself  to  every  pastor  as  reason- 
able and  proper? 

Rev.  J.  N.  Kurtz,  after  experiencing  almost  un- 
paralleled exposures  and  hardships  at  Tulpehocken 
for  twenty-two  years,  labored  till  nearly  the  close  of 
the  century  in  and  around  York.  He  ardently  es- 
poused the  cause  of  the  colonies  but  was  for  a  time 
seriously  embarrassed  by  his  oath  of  allegiance  to 
King  George.  While  the  Colonial  Congress  sat  at 
York,  its  chaplain,  Rev.  (afterwards  Bishop)  White, 
lodged  in  his  house.     He  was  one  of  the   best   Latin 


The  Ravages  of   War.  301 

scholars  then  in  this  country.  In  the  pulpit  he  was  a 
"  son  of  thunder,"  a  man  of  extraordinary  moral  cour- 
age, proclaiming  the  truth  with  indomitable  boldness, 
yet  he  possessed  withal  such  tact  and  tenderness,  that 
the  Lutheran  churches  lying  far  beyond  his  parish 
made  continual  requisition  for  his  services  for  the  al- 
laying of  strife,  and  the  reconciliation  of  disaffected 
members.  He  was  for  the  Lutheran  churches  in  that 
region  what  Muhlenberg  was  for  the  churches  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  State,  in  New  Jersey  and  New 
York,  their  pacificator. 

His  son,  Dr.  J.  Daniel  Kurtz,  "a  man  of  much  more 
than  ordinary  powers,  an  evangelical,  impressive  and 
earnest  preacher,  and  an  eminently  faithful  and  affec- 
tionate pastor,"  had  charge  of  the  church  in  Baltimore 
for  nearly  fifty  years,  assisting  for  a  while  and  finally 
succeeding  his  father's  friend,  Rev.  Gerock. 

After  the  retirement  of  Rev.  J.  N.  Kurtz  from 
York,  that  congregation  was  served  by  his  son-in-law, 
the  Rev.  Jacob  Gcering,  who  preached  Jesus  Christ 
and  him  crucified  in  such  a  way  that  "no  one  could 
listen  to  him  without  being  convinced  that  he  had  a 
deep  inward  experience  of  every  sentiment  that  he 
uttered,"  and  whose  ministry  of  twenty-five  years  was 
blest  with  extensive  awakenings,  which  brought  laree 
numbers  into  the  church,  and  gave  an  impetus  to  its 
prosperity  which  continues  to  this  day.  Although  he 
had  never  entered  the  precincts  of  a  college  he  mas- 
tered the  Latin  and  Greek  lan^ua^es,  the  Hebrew  and 
its  cognates,  became  quite  proficient  in  Church  History 
and  Patristics,  and  gathered  a  vast  amount  of  infor- 
mation  on    almost  every    branch   of  science.     When 


302  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

strongly  urged  for  nomination  to  the  office  of 
Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  he  declined  on  the  ground 
that  the  kinofdom  which  he  served  was  not  of  this 
world,  and  that  he  coveted  no  higher  honor  than 
that  of  being    a  faithful    minister  of  the    Lord    Jesus. 

Among  the  representative  ministers  of  the  day  a 
prominent  rank  was  held  by  Dr.  Christian  Endress, 
who  after  holding  for  six  years  the  position  of  princi- 
pal of  the  large  congregational  school  of  Zion  and  St. 
Michael's  in  Philadelphia,  took  charge,  in  1801,  of  the 
church  at  Easton,  and  in  connection  with  it  served  for 
some  years  at  intervals  not  less  than  a  dozen  localities 
on  both  sides  of  the  river.  In  1815  he  succeeded  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Henry  E.  Muhlenberg  at  Lancaster  and  in 
the  face  of  powerful  opposition  and  violent  personal 
abuse  succeeded  in  introducing  the  English  language. 
He  was  an  able  and  faithful  minister  of  Christ,  one 
that  "  you  could  never  hear  without  feeling  that  you 
were  in  contact  with  a  discriminating,  powerful  and 
earnest  mind."  He  is  classed  with  the  "  liberal  party," 
and  was  "  a  decided  Arminian."  He  was  a  diligent  and 
independent  student  of  the  Scriptures. 

Dr.  John  George  Schmucker  went  to  Hagerstown 
in  1794,  a  charge  which  then  embraced  eight  congre- 
gations, and  though  he,  like  most  of  his  Lutheran 
contemporaries,  entered  upon  his  work  when  quite  a 
youth,  he  speedily  acquired  both  in  and  out  of  the 
pulpit  an  influence  which  falls  to  the  lot  of  compara- 
tively few  ministers.  In  1809  he  succeeded  Gcering 
at  York,  where  with  unremitting  assiduity  and  great 
success  he  labored  for  twenty-six  years.  He  passed  in 
his  early  years  through  profound  religious  experience 


REV.    PAlTi,    HENKEl. 


The  Ravages  of   War.  303 

and  he  reached  an  advanced  stage  of  spiritual  life. 
He  was,  besides  being  a  faithful  pastor,  a  voluminous 
author.  As  a  preacher  he  was  earnest  and  impres- 
sive, fearless  in  exposing  Vice,  unfaltering  in  his  advo- 
cacy of  moral  reforms,  and  warmly  attached  to  the 
American  Bible  and  Tract  Societies,  which  he  regarded 
as  "grand  instrumentalities  for  the  conversion  of  the 
world."  Besides  the  eminent  services  he  rendered 
the  Church  in  founding  and  promoting  some  of  her 
most  important  institutions,  he  is  deserving  of  urate- 
ful  remembrance,  like  Muhlenberg,  Kurtz  and  Schaef- 
fer,  as  the  progenitor  of  successive  generations  of  min- 
isters that  have  added  largely  to  the  efficiency  and 
glory  of  the  Lutheran  communion. 

Among  the  most  learned  and  laborious  of  the  Lu- 
theran divines  of  this  period  was  the  Rev.  George 
Lochman,  D.  D.,  who  from  the  year  1794  served  the 
congregation  at  Lebanon  with  a  number  of  affiliated 
congregations,  extending  his  pastorate  over  twenty- 
one  years  and  frequently  declining  invitations  to  more 
eligible  fields  of  labor.  In  1815  the  peculiar  circum- 
stances of  the  congregation  at  Harrisburg  constrained 
him  to  accept  a  call  to  that  place,  where  his  ministry 
continued  to  the  close  of  his  life  in  1826,  "with  fre- 
quent and  signal  tokens  of  the  divine  favor."  He  gave 
his  support  to  every  measure  that  promised  to  advance 
the  public  welfare  and,  like  Muhlenberg,  Von  Wrangel 
and  others,  maintained  a  fraternal  attitude  toward 
other  evangelical  bodies.  But  in  his  estimation  the 
Lutheran  Church  was  the  one  pre-eminently  loved  of 
Christ,  and  the  only  thing  that  could  at  any  time  dis- 
turb his  unmeasured  kindness  of  heart  was  "some  in- 


304  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

vasion  of  what  he  esteemed  the  rights  and  prerogatives 
of  the  good  old  Lutheran  Church,  for  which  he  enter- 
tained an  affection  next  in  strength  and  devotedness 
to  that  he  felt  for  his  divine  Master." 

A  man  of  eminent  attainments  of  character  was  the 
Rev.  F.  W.  Geissenhainer,  D.  D.,  who  completed  his 
theological  studies  at  several  German  Universities  be- 
fore  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  who,  on  account  of  his  ex- 
traordinary qualifications  for  the  office,  was  ordained 
at  twenty,  in  a  country  where  the  rule  was  twenty-five. 
Coming  to  America  in  1793,  he  labored  in  Montgom- 
ery county,  Pa.,  until  he  was  called  to  New  York  on 
the  death  of  Dr.  Kunze  in  1808.  Returning  some 
years  later  to  his  former  charge  in  Pennsylvania,  he 
was  recalled  to  New  York  in  1822,  and  remained 
pastor  of  St.  Matthew's  Church  until  the  close  of  his 
earthly  life  in  1838. 

In  North  Carolina  the  war  reduced  the  churches  to 
a  feeble  and  impoverished  condition.  Rev.  Adolphus 
Nussman,  whom  the  Consistory  of  Hanover  had  sent 
as  a  missionary  to  that  province  in  1773,  was  still 
laboring  there.  Through  him  an  appeal  for  help  was 
forwarded  to  a  mission  society  founded  in  connection 
with  the  University  of  Helmstaedt  for  the  purpose  of 
extending-  aid  to  the  brethren  in  that  region.  Besides 
other  substantial  forms  of  relief  for  their  spiritual  des- 
titution, this  society  sent  over  in  1788  a  young  minis- 
ter by  the  name  of  Charles  Augustus  Gottlieb  Storch. 
He  had  received  University  training,  possessed  a  wide 
range  of  knowledge,  and  besides  his  familiarity  with 
Hebrew,  Greek  and  Latin,  was  able  to  converse  flu- 
ently in   five   or  six  languages.     His   preaching  was 


The  Ravages  of   War.  305 

interesting  and  edifying  to  all  classes  ;  "for  his  thoughts 
were  presented  with  such  admirable  perspicuity  that 
the  most  illiterate  could  comprehend  them ;  and  yet 
they  were  so  rich  and  elevated,  and  often  powerful, 
that  the  best  educated  minds  could  not  but  admire 
them."  He  located  at  Salisbury  and  served  from  the 
first,  in  connection  with  that,  two  other  places  ;  but  he 
soon  established  other  conoreofations  jn  Rowan,  Lin- 
coin  and  Cabarras  counties,  and  paid  several  visits  to 
destitute  churches  in  South  Carolina,  Tennessee  and 
Virginia.  In  the  pastoral  relation  he  is  said  to  have 
been  a  model  of  tenderness,  diligence  and  fidelity. 
Repeatedly  invited  to  occupy  other  and  more  eligible 
fields,  he  declined  them  all  in  view  of  the  great  dearth 
of  ministers  from  which  that  region  was  suffering, 
though  his  learning  and  eloquence  would  have  fitted 
him  for  the  most  cultivated  and  refined  communities. 
His  son,  Rev.  Theophilus  Stork,  D.  D.,  the  founder  of 
St.  Mark's,  Philadelphia,  and  of  St.  Mark's,  Baltimore, 
was  an  eloquent  and  polished  divine ;  and  his  grand- 
son, Charles  A.  Stork,  D.  D.,  who  succeeded  his  father 
in  Baltimore  and  who  was  cut  off  in  the  prime  of  his 
usefulness  while  Professor  of  Theology  at  Gettysburg, 
was  a  brilliant  example  of  sanctified  culture. 

Frederick  Henry  Quitman,  D.  D.,  the  father  of  Ma- 
jor-General  Quitman,  studied  at  Halle  during  the 
period  of  "Illumination,"  under  such  lights  as  Semler, 
Gruner  and  others  of  the  Rationalistic  School.  He 
arrived  in  this  country  from  Holland  in  1795.  For 
thirty  years  he  divided  his  labors  among  a  number  of 
churches    on    the   Hudson,  often   preaching   seven   or 


306  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

eight  times  a  week,  either  in  the  German,   Low  Dutch 
or  English  lantruao^e. 

Rev.  Christian  Streit  served  for  some  time  as  chap- 
lain of  the  Army  of  Independence,  and  was  taken  pris- 
oner by  the  British  while  he  was  pastor  at  Charleston, 
S.  C.  He  took  charge  of  the  church  at  Winchester, 
Va.,  in  1785,  and  also  of  the  one  at  Strasburg,  for- 
merly included  in  Rev.  (Gen.)  Peter  Muhlenberg's 
pastoral  district.  He  continued  to  labor  in  this  field 
until  summoned  to  his  reward  in  1812.  He  acted  as 
bishop  of  all  the  churches  in  that  part  of  the  Valley  of 
Virginia,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  numerous  con- 
gregations throughout  that  whole  region,  preaching 
at  first  in  both  English  and  German  ;  but  the  views 
and  circumstances  of  his  people  allowed  him  in  his 
later  years  to  officiate  exclusively  in  English. 

Another  minister  "to  whom  both  the  nation  and 
the  Church,  in  their  early  and  feeble  day  were  alike 
indebted,"  was  the  Rev.  John  Nicholas  Martin,  who, 
while  pastor  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  during  the  Revolu- 
tion, endured  great  sacrifices  and  sufferings  on  ac- 
count of  his  ardent  patriotism. 

Such  were  the  leading  men  who  presided  over  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  churches  during  the  closing 
decades  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  the  earlier 
years  of  the  nineteenth.  No  other  denomination 
could,  at  the  time,  boast  of  a  ministry  that  surpassed 
them  in  intellectual  culture,  in  pastoral  aptitude  and 
fidelity,  and  in  the  highest  qualities  of  pulpit  elo- 
quence. 

A  Presbyterian  clergyman,  the  Rev.  William  R.  De- 
witt,  D.  D.,  who  had  an  intimate    personal  acquaint- 


The  Ravages  of   War.  307 

ance  with  some  of  these  fathers,  says  of  them  :  "  They 
were  but  one  generation  removed  from  those  who 
first  came  to  this  country  from  Germany.  They,  for 
the  most  part,  pursued  their  theological  studies  with 
them,  and  while  doing  so  resided  in  their  families. 
From  them  they  imbibed  much  of  that  pastoral  sim- 
plicity and  kindness,  which  so  greatly  distinguished 
them  as  a  class,  and  which  contrasted  so  favorably 
with  the  sterner  elements  in  the  characters  of  many 
of  the  Scotch-Irish  ministers,  the  first  Presbyterian 
pastors  of  this  region." 

Under  their  earnest  and  laborious  ministrations 
the  older  congregations  maintained  a  steady  pros- 
perity. Such  as  had  suffered  most  seriously  from  the 
ravages  of  the  war,  gradually  revived,  and  new  con- 
gregations were  organized  in  many  localities.  The 
ministers  who  occupied  the  outer  borders  of  the 
Church  were  zealously  affected  to  care  for  the  feeble 
churches  in  their  vicinity  and  to  extend  the  Gospel 
into  the  regions  beyond.  They  undertook  mission- 
ary tours  into  remote  districts,  gathering  together  the 
scattered  children  of  the  house  of  Luther,  and  plant- 
ing in  newer  and  destitute  settlements  the  church  of 
Christ  as  the  centre  of  light  and  the  bulwark  of  vir- 
tue. The  Rev.  Bager,  who  was  for  years  pastor  of  the 
churches  at  York  and  at  Hanover,  was  wont  to  visit 
every  six  weeks  a  small  band  of  Lutherans  at  Balti- 
more, and  extended  his  missionary  journeys  also 
westward  as  far  as  Grindstone  Hill,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Chambersburg,  traversing  an  area  extending 
fifty  miles  in  one  direction  and  fifty  in  another,  and 
strewing  over  the  soil   the  seeds  of  divine  truth,  from 


308  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

which  the  more  than  one  hundred  churches  of  Balti- 
more, and  of  Franklin,  Cumberland,  Adams  and  York 
counties  in  Pennsylvania,  are  to-day  reaping  the  har- 
vest. A  large  number  of  excellent  people,  who  trace 
their  lineage  to  this  active  pioneer  of  Lutheranism, 
have  an  honorable  place  in  the  congregations  which 
he  founded.  His  grandson,  Dr.  H.  L.  Baugher,  for  a 
long  time  the  President  of  Pennsylvania  College,  and 
the  son  and  namesake  of  the  latter,  have  in  their  de- 
votion to  the  Church  and  their  labors  for  its  ad- 
vancement proved  themselves  worthy  descendants 
while  others  have  shown  exceptional  liberality  in  the 
support  of  her  institutions. 

No  more  active,  indefatigable  and  self-denying  mis- 
sionary than  the  Rev.  Paul  Henkel  ever  labored  in 
this  country.  He  was  a  great-grandson  of  Rev.  Ger- 
hard Henkel,  one  of  the  first  Lutheran  ministers  who 
came  to  this  country  from  Germany.  Serving  at  dif- 
ferent times  what  might  be  regarded  as  a  fixed  charge 
at  New  Market,  Va.,  and  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C,  he 
never  confined  himself  to  any  such  limitations.  The 
whole  surrounding  country  was  his  parish.  He  laid 
the  foundations  of  quite  a  number  of  churches  in 
Augusta,  Madison,  Pendleton  and  Wythe  Counties, 
Va.,  and  without  authorization  from  any  mission 
Board,  and  without  dependence  upon  any  missionary 
fund,  he  made  repeated  tours  through  western  Vir- 
ginia, Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Indiana  and  Ohio  ;  hunt- 
ing up  the  lost ;  administering  the  Word  and  Sacra- 
ments ;  instructing  and  confirming  the  youth,  and  so 
far  as  practicable  organizing  new  congregations. 
With  all   this   he  found  time  for  the  preparation  of  a 


The  Ravages  of   lVai\  309 

series  of  devotional  volumes  in  English  and  in  Ger- 
man, and  took  part  in  the  training  of  quite  a  number 
of  candidates  for  the  ministry.  He  passed  away  from 
his  earthly  labors  in  1825,  but  five  sons  took  up 
his  work  in  the  church  militant  and  their  honorable 
name,  their  zealous  consecration  to  the  Church  and 
her  doctrines,  have  been  perpetuated  without  inter- 
ruption in  the  Lutheran  pulpit  to  the  present  day. 

The  Rev.  John  George  Butler  labored  for  some  time 
in  the  Cumberland  Valley  in  Pennsylvania.  Subse- 
quently he  visited  the  destitute  Lutheran  settlements 
in  the  territory  now  embraced  in  Huntingdon,  Blair, 
Bedford  and  Somerset  counties.  Again  he  is  found 
exploring  the  waste  places  of  the  State  of  Virginia. 
He  made  Botetourt  county  his  headquarters,  but  with 
all  the  energies  of  an  ardent  soul  he  was  constantly 
prosecuting  missionary  operations  into  districts  lying 
far  beyond,  often  making  appointments  a  year  in  ad- 
vance and  never  failing  to  meet  them.  "He  was  an- 
nually  commissioned  by  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania  to 
travel  through  the  western  part  of  Virginia  and  Ten- 
nessee, to  stop  for  a  time  wherever  there  was  a  pros- 
pect of  being  especially  useful,  to  catechise  and  con- 
firm the  young,  to  distribute  copies  of  the  Bible  and 
the  hymn-book,  and  to  organize  congregations  wher- 
ever it  was  practicable." 

In  1805  he  removed  to  Cumberland,  Md.,  where  a 
congregation  had  been  organized  and  a  log  house  of 
worship  erected  in  1794.  His  regular  charge  consisted 
here  of  eight  congregations,  one  forty-seven,  another 
sixty  miles  from  the  place  of  his  residence,  receiving 
from  all  these  congregations  about  one  hundred  and 


310  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

fifty  dollars.  "  In  visiting  a  neighborhood  remote  from 
his  residence  he  usually  remained  from  four  to  eight 
weeks,  preaching  and  catechising  the  youth  daily,  vis- 
iting the  people  from  house  to  house,  praying  with 
them,  and  exhorting  all  to  become  Christians  or  to 
grow  in  grace.  Before  leaving,  it  was  his  custom  to 
preach  a  farewell  sermon  at  a  school-house,  in  a  mill, 
or  some  other  convenient  place,  there  being  usually  a 
very  large  attendance.  At  the  close  he  requested  all 
to  unite  with  him  in  singing  a  farewell  hymn.  During 
the  singing  of  the  first  stanza  the  fathers  came  forward 
and  one  by  one  gave  him  the  parting  hand.  After  he 
had  spoken  to  them  a  few  suitable  words,  they  would 
turn  and  pass  out  of  doors,  generally  weeping  as  they 
went.  The  mothers  did  the  same  while  the  next  verse 
was  being  sung ;  then  those  whom  he  had  confirmed  ; 
then  all  the  rest,  and  finally  he  himself  followed.  Then 
in  front  of  the  house  all  arranged  themselves  in  a  cir- 
cle, with  him  in  the  center,  and  thus  they  sang  the  re- 
maining verses.  After  that  he  knelt  with  all  of  them 
on  the  cold  ground,  and  spreading  his  hands  to  heaven 
prayed  with  and  for  them.  The  doxology  followed 
and  the  benediction.  And  now  in  an  instant  he  was 
upon  his  horse,  and  away  he  went,  perhaps  to  return 
no  more.  The  impression  made  by  such  a  scene  was 
overpowering.  He  wept  and  they  wept ;  and  in  the 
remembrance  of  what  he  had  said,  the  good  seed  of 
the  word  brought  forth  rich  fruit," — fruit  which  has 
kept  ripening  and  multiplying  for  successive  genera- 
tions, and  the  gathering  of  which  at  this  time  employs 
the  labors  of  scores  of  ministers  in  the  western  coun- 
ties of  Virginia,  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania. 


The  Ravages  of   War.  311 

Thus  rolled  the  wave  of  missionary  operations  till  it 
reached,  before  the  close  of  the  century,  the  very  sum- 
mit of  the  Alleghenies.  But  the  mountains  themselves 
form  no  barriers  to  the  spread  of  the  Gospel.  And 
weak  and  poorly  organized  as  was  the  Church,  the  ag- 
gressive spirit  of  Christianity  moved  it  to  follow  the 
streams  of  immigration  and  to  plant  the  cross  on  the 
wild  prairies  of  the  west.  One  of  the  noblest  of  these 
pioneers  was  Rev  William  Carpenter,  who  after  serv- 
ing for  twenty-six  years  the  old  Hebron  church  in  Mad- 
ison county,  Va.,  followed  a  colony  of  his  own  congre- 
gation to  Boone  county,  Ky.  This  little  band  had 
kept  up  religious  meetings  in  their  humble  cabins  for 
eight  years  when  Mr.  Carpenter  paid  them  a  visit  to 
catechise  the  children  and  administer  the  Sacraments. 
He  felt  constrained  to  cast  his  lot  among-  them  and 
for  twenty  years,  to  the  close  of  his  life  in  1833,  he 
exercised  his  ministry  in  that  remote  region.  During 
the  same  period  a  pupil  of  his,  Rev.  Geo.  Daniel  Flohr, 
cultivated  a  large  missionary  field  in  south-western 
Virginia.  His  residence  was  in  Wythe  county,  but  his 
congregations  lay  in  three  different  counties  and  four 
of  them  were  distant  from  his  residence,  nine,  twenty- 
two, thirty,  and  forty-seven  miles. 

In  Pennsylvania  we  trace  Rev.  John  Michael  Steck 
taking  charge  of  congregations  in  Bedford  and  Somer- 
set counties,  in  the  year  1789.  He  located  at  Greens- 
burg  in  1792,  performing  arduous  missionary  labors  in 
that  part  of  Pennsylvania,  which  was  yet  a  wilderness. 
His  son,  Michael  John  Steck,  accepted  a  call  to  Lan- 
caster, Ohio,  in  1816,  and  by  appointment  of  Synod, 
made  extensive   missionary  tours.     He  was  the   first 


312  The  Luthera7is  in  America. 

Lutheran  minister  to  officiate  in  Columbus,  O.,  hold- 
ing services  in  an  upper  room  of  a  private  house  in 
1819.  Rev.  Colson  was  laboring  at  Meadville  in  1814, 
to  which  place  Rev.  C.  F.  Heyer  was  sent  out  by  the 
Pennsylvania  Synod  in  181 7.  He  was  the  ideal  of  a 
Christian  missionary  and  for  sixty  years  rendered  in- 
calculable services  to  his  Church  both  in  this  country 
and  in  India. 

As  the  borders  of  Zion  became  extended  and  minis- 
ters and  congregations  were  multiplying,  the  great  dis- 
tances to  be  travelled  over  in  attending  the  annual 
meetings  of  the  Pennsylvania  Synod,  as  well  as  the 
desire  to  promote  the  efficiency  of  the  churches 
through  closer  affiliation  and  a  more  compact  or- 
ganization, prompted  the  ministers  in  different  states 
to  organize  separate  conferences  or  associations' 
The  first  of  these  organizations,  the  second  synod  of 
the  American  Lutheran  Church,  was  "  The  Synod  and 
Ministerium  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in 
the  State  of  New  York  and  adjacent  parts,"  which  was 
formed  at  Albany  in  the  year  1786,  with  Dr.  Kunze  as 
President.  Its  constitution  and  regulations  were  al- 
most identical  with  those  of  the  mother  synod,  "except 
that  the  German  language  was  not  constituted  either 
the  language  of  synod,  or  that  wherein  divine  service 
was  to  be  celebrated,  except  where  the  circumstances 
of  a  congregation  would  require  it."  As  early  as  181 5 
it  became  almost  entirely  English.  Although  there 
were  ten  ministers  between  New  York  and  Troy,  and 
several  in  New  Jersey,  only  three  were  present  at  the 
first  convention.  And  of  the  more  than  twenty-five 
congregations  only  two  were  represented. 


The  Ravages  of   War.  313 

During  the  year  1788  seven  ministers  with  fifteen 
congregations  located  in  the  Carolinas  formed  a  kind 
of  synodical  organization  under  the  title  Unio  Eccle- 
siastica  of  the  German  Protestant  Churches  in  the 
State  of  South  Carolina.  Its  principal  object  seems 
to  have  been  to  provide  "  for  the  proper  legal  incor- 
poration of  all  the  German  churches  which  were  lo- 
cated in  the  interior  of  the  state."  The  evil  of  con- 
founding or  merging  the  two  Churches  into  one  was 
carefully  guarded  against,  and  the  act  of  incorporation 
stipulates  that  "  it  is  not  to  be  understood  that  any 
member  of  either  confession  should  forsake  his  con- 
fession, but  that  both  Lutheran  and  Reformed,  who 
are  members  of  one  or  the  other  of  the  incorporated 
Churches,  and  who  have  hitherto  united  in  the  attend- 
ance on  worship,  shall  continue  to  enjoy  the  same 
rights  and  privileges,  without  the  least  reproaches  in 
consequence  of  their  respective  confessions."  Nor  can 
this  corporate  alliance  be  chargeable  with  unsound- 
ness in  the  faith  on  the  part  of  the  Lutherans,  for  "all 
the  Evangelical  Lutheran  ministers  were  formally 
sworn  on  the  Svmbolical  Books  "at  the  first  meeting. 
Rev.  Friedrich  Daser,  A.  M.,  was  chosen  Senior  or 
President,  Rev.  F.  A.  Wallberg,  Secretary.  Both  were 
Lutherans,  as  were  in  fact  all  but  two  of  the  ministers, 
and  nine  of  the  fifteen  congregations. 

The  ecclesiastical  consciousness  of  that  region 
seems  to  have  been  at  that  time  somewhat  confused, 
since  the  first  convention  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
North  Carolina,  held  in  St.  John's  Church,  Cabarras 
county,  May  1794,  proceeded  to  examine  and  ordain  a 
minister  for    the    Episcopal  Church.     His   name  was 


314  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

Robert  Johnson  Miller,  and  this  extraordinary  inva- 
sion of  Episcopal  prerogative  on  the  part  of  a  Lu- 
theran Ministerium  was  in  response  to  a  petition  from 
Mr.  Miller's  people  of  White  Haven  Church,  in  Lin- 
coln county.  It  must  have  been  in  strange  times  that 
Episcopalians  could  forget  the  Apostolic  Succession 
and  Lutherans  ordain  a  man  to  minister  for  that  de- 
nomination. Rev.  Miller's  ordination  certificate  is 
still  extant.  It  ought  to  be  deposited  with  the  House 
of  Bishops  as  a  companion  piece  of  the  memorable 
deliverance  on  the  "  Historic  Episcopate." 

This  conference  seems  to  have  been  called  for  no 
other  purpose  than  the  ordaining  of  Mr.  Miller.  No 
synodical  organization  was  effected  until  the  year 
1803.  The  principal  impulse  leading  to  the  organiza- 
tion seems  to  have  been  the  great  religious  awakening 
which  passed  over  the  country  in  the  first  years  of  the 
present  century.  The  ablest  minds  of  the  Church  in 
that  section,  Revs.  Storch  and  Henkel,  became  greatly 
disturbed  and  perplexed  over  the  phenomena  which 
they  witnessed  and  which  in  some  measure  unsettled 
their  own  people.  They  hesitated  to  call  the  move- 
ment fanatical  or  to  denounce  it  as  unscriptural,  for 
they  discovered  a  remarkable  change  in  persons  who 
had  been  previously  either  ungodly  in  their  lives  or 
avowedly  skeptical  in  their  views.  As  there  was  di- 
vision of  sentiment  amoncr  the  German  ministers,  this 
instead  of  leading  to  strife  or  alienation,  "  drove  them 
to  more  intimate  communion  with  each  other  in  their 
official  acts,  and  they  had  thus  the  opportunity  to  in- 
vestigate this  matter  more  closely." 

About    this    time,    too,    the   assistance   which    the 


The  Ravages  of   War.  315 

Helmstaedt  Mission  had  been  rendering  to  the 
churches  in  North  Carolina  came  to  an  end,  and  these 
churches  were  accordingly  thrown  upon  their  own  re- 
sources. Distracted  by  the  revivalistic  excitement, 
and  deprived  of  the  parental  guidance  and  the  ma- 
terial support  of  their  friends  in  the  fatherland,  they 
felt  the  need  of  united  counsels  and  active  co-opera- 
tion for  their  own  defence  and  prosperity,  and  "  that 
the  instruction  and  quickening  influence  of  the  Gospel 
may  be  brought  to  many  thousands  of  souls  who  have 
hitherto  been  necessarily  deprived  of  the  same." 
Thus  originated  at  Salisbury,  May  2d,  1803,  the  North 
Carolina  Synod,  or  Conference,  as  these  bodies  were 
then  sometimes  called,  exercising-  henceforth  sole 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  in  those  parts.  The  Penn- 
sylvania Ministerium  had,  in  fact,  never  extended  its 
jurisdiction  beyond  Virginia,  the  churches  farther 
south  having  been  under  the  care  of  a  European 
missionary  society,  or  else  independent  alike  of  the 
care  or  fellowship  of  any  ecclesiastical  body.  The 
ministers  present  were  Gottfried  Arndt,  Carl  A.  G. 
Storch,  Paul  Henkel  and  Robert  J.  Miller,  who  had 
been  charged  in  his  ordination  certificate  "to  obey 
the  rules,  ordinances  and  customs  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,"  but  who,  notwithstanding,  served 
Lutheran  congregations  for  twenty-seven  years. 

By  this  organization  a  new  life  appears  to  have  been 
infused  into  the  Lutheran  Church  in  the  Carolinas. 
With  the  exception  of  Rev.  Faber  in  Charleston,  who 
was  doubtless  prevented  by  the  great  distance  which 
separated  him  from  the  localities  where  the  synod 
usually  met,  and   the   Rev.  F.  J.  Wallern,  who   always 


31 6  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

remained  independent  of  synodical  connection,  all  the 
Lutheran  ministers  residing  in  South  Carolina  united 
subsequently  with  this  body.  The  greatest  drawback 
to  large  and  rapid  growth  was  the  want  of  ministers 
of  the  Gospel,  "and  in  order  to  supply  this  demand, 
pious  laymen  were  licensed  as  catechets,  who  after- 
wards became  candidates  for  the  ministry;  in  this  way 
originated  the  licensure  system." 

In  October,  1812,  some  ten  ministers,  missionaries 
sent  out  by  the  Ministerium  of  Pennsylvania,  held  in 
Washington  county,  Pa.,  the  first  ecclesiastical  confer- 
ence west  of  the  Allegheny  mountains.  The  organ- 
ization of  an  independent  body,  which  was  discounte- 
nanced by  the  mother  Synod,  did  not  occur  until  Sep- 
tember, 1817,  at  New  Philadelphia,  Ohio.  It  was  the 
work  of  the  younger  members  in  opposition  to  the 
judgment  of  the  older  ones,  and  only  three  of  the 
ministers  participating  in  the  organization  had  been 
ordained. 

The  Synod  of  Maryland  and  Virginia  was  formed 
in  the  year  1820. 

Thus  moved  neither  by  doctrinal  or  ecclesiastical 
differences,  nor,  so  far  as  known,  by  any  other  cause 
of  dissension,  but  mainly  by  the  circumstances  of  their 
situation  and  the  consideration  of  the  interests  of  the 
Church,  there  were  organized  four  additional  synods 
before  the  end  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  present  cen- 
tury. The  extension  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  not- 
withstanding great  obstacles,  kept  pace  with  the  growth 
of  the  country  and  with  the  rapid  multiplication  and 
expansion  of  our  population.  Its  whole  strength, 
which  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  numbered  but 


The  Ravages  of    War. 


317 


seventy  ministers  and  three  hundred  congregations, 
embraced  now  one  hundred  and  sixty-four  ministers, 
four  hundred  and  seventy-five  congregations,  and  forty- 
five  thousand  communicants.  But  one  hundred  of  the 
congregations  were  pastorless. 

The  latter  statement  reveals  the  saddest  feature  of 
the  Church  at  that  period  and  brings  into  view  the 
most  serious  barrier  to  her  rapid  progress.  A  num- 
ber of  circumstances    combined    unfortunately  to  pre- 


WITTENBERG   ORPHAN   HOME,   WITTENBERG,   WIS. 

vent  the  establishment  of  schools  for  the  training  of 
ministers,  the  inflow  of  suitable  men  from  Germany 
had  long  since  ceased,  and  in  consequence  there  was 
such  a  dearth  of  laborers  that  nearly  one-fourth  of  the 
congregations  were  deprived  of  pastoral  ministrations, 
and  but  few  preachers  could  be  spared  to  prosecute 
missionary  operations  on  the  frontier. 

The    enlightened    founders  of  the   Church    in    this. 


3 1 8  The  Lutherans  in  Amei'ica. 

country  were  not  only  alive  to  the  interests  of  general 
education  but  with  signal  zeal  they  endeavored  to  de- 
velop institutions  for  the  training  of  a  ministry.  The 
language  of  her  people  placed  them  even  then  already 
in  comparison  with  others,  at  a  great  disadvantagei 
but  this  evil  was  sought  to  be  remedied  by  a  project 
devised  by  liberal-minded  men  like  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin, Conrad  Weiser  and  William  Smith,  who  secured 
large  sums  in  England  for  the  maintenance  of  elemen- 
tary schools  in  which  to  educate  and  Anglicize  the 
German  population.  But  these  efforts  and  the  flour- 
ishing parochial  school  of  Philadelphia  could  not  sup- 
ply a  cultured  ministry  for  the  Church,  and  Dr.  Kunze, 
at  a  day  when  apparently  all  the  means  and  resources 
for  such  an  institution  were  wanting,  conceived  the 
project  of  a  High  School,  and, with  his  "Society  for 
the  promotion  of  Christianity  and  all  useful  knowl- 
edge among  the  Germans,"  opened,  amid  festive  cere- 
monies, his  "  Deutsches  Seminar,"  February  15,  1773. 
But  this  noble  beginning  of  a  theological  school,  which 
might  have  raised  up  a  large  body  of  cultured  minis- 
ters, perished  like  many  other  precious  institutions  in 
the  storms  of  the  Revolution.  "When  peace  was  re- 
stored in  1783  there  was  no  institution  in  which  Ger- 
man youths  could  be  advanced  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  elementary  branches." 

This  want  was  supplied  in  part  through  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania,  then  the  foremost  liberal  school 
of  the  State,  and  which  had  connected  with  it  from  the 
year  1780  a  German  Department,  that  is  a  "German 
Professorship  by  which,  through  the  medium  of  the 
German  tongue,  instruction  in  the  learned  languages 


The  Ravages  of   War.  319 

was  to  be  imparted."  The  first  incumbent  of  this 
professorship  was  the  learned  Dr.  Kunze,  who  was 
succeeded  in  1784  by  his  colleague  in  St.  Michael's 
and  Zion,  the  eloquent  Dr.  Helmuth.  Their  prestige 
and  ability  secured  at  once  a  liberal  patronage,  and  as 
many  as  sixty  students  were  in  attendance  during 
1785,  a  number  considerably  greater  than  that  of  the 
English  students,  so  that  the  largfe  recitation  room  of 
the  English,  the  most  commodious  and  beautiful  in 
the  building,  was  given  up  to  the  Germans. 

A  number  of  Lutheran  ministers  received  their  clas- 
sical training  in  this  University,  some  of  them  being 
the  beneficiaries  of  the  German  Society  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, among  the  latter  such  distinguished  names 
as  George  Lochman,  Christian  Endress,  David  F. 
Schaeffer  and  Samuel  Schmucker. 

Franklin  College  was  founded  in  1787,  but  compar- 
atively a  small  number  of  Lutheran  clergymen  re- 
ceived their  training  in  it.  Rev.  Henry  A.  Muhlen- 
berg, for  a  long  time  pastor  at  Reading,  and  after- 
wards attaining  hi^h  distinction  as  a  civilian,  and  Rev. 
Benjamin  Keller,  one  of  the  most  lovely  and  useful  of 
the  Church's  servants,  were  among  the  number.  A 
kind  of  private  Seminary  for  theological  instruction 
was  begun  somewhat  earlier  by  Rev's.  Helmuth  and 
Schmidt,  and  such  lights  of  the  Church  as  George 
Lochman,  J.  G.  Schmucker,  Endress,  J.  Miller,  Baker, 
Butler  and  Baetes  were  prepared  in  this  institute  for 
the  Lutheran  pulpit.  Kunze  was  moved  to  accept 
the  call  to  New  York  in  1784,  by  the  offer  of  a  profess- 
orship in  Columbia  College,  in  which  institution  he 
hoped  to  be  able  to  accomplish  something  by  way  of 


320 


The  Lutherans  in  America 


supplying  the  great  destitution  of  ministers.  In  1815 
Hartwick  Seminary,  in  New  York,  was  opened  with 
nineteen  students  the  number  growing  within  a  few 
months  to  forty-four.  The  founding  of  this  school 
was  the  result  of  a  munificent  legacy  left  by  Pastor 
Hartwig  for  a  school  in  which  young  men  should  be 
trained  both  for  the  office  of  pastor  and  for  that  of 
missionary  among  the   Indian    population.     Its  first 


HARTWICK  SEMINARY,  HARTWICK,  N.  Y. 


president  was  Dr.  Ernst  Ludwig  Hazelius,  a  man  who 
brought  to  this  country  thorough  German  culture,  em- 
inently fitting  him  for  an  instructor.  He  was  an  earn- 
est Christian.  Although  not  more  pronounced  in  his 
Lutheran  faith  than  many  of  his  contemporaries,  he 
was  instrumental  through  his  students  in  putting  an 
end  to  the  sway  of  rationalism  in  the  New  York  Min- 
isterium. 

A  number  of  the  abler  ministers,  in  addition   to   the 


The  Ravages  of   War.  •  321 

exhaustive  labors  which  their  large  pastoral  districts 
required,  furnished  private  instruction,  taking  young 
men  into  their  homes,  often  giving  them  boarding 
and  even  books  gratuitously,  and  assisting  them  in 
their  earnest  endeavors  to  master  theological  studies. 
To  the  disinterested  and  stimulating  efforts  of  this 
character,  from  men  like  the  Schaeffers,  Dr.  Loch- 
man,  and  Drs.  Geissenhainer  and  Quitman  in  New- 
York,  the  Church  is  indebted  for  many  of  the  most 
active,  worthy  and  useful  men  that  labored  in  her 
vineyards  during  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth 
century  and  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth. 

Of  course  no  individual  pastor,  burdened  with  the 
cares  of  one  or,  sometimes,  many  congregations,  what- 
ever may  have  been  his  own  attainments  in  theology, 
could  do  the  work  of  a  theological  faculty,  whose  time 
and  abilities  are  given  exclusively  to  this  callino-. 
Hence  though  the  Church  was  honored  in  that  period 
by  men  of  eminent  culture,  to  whom  the  best  institu- 
tions awarded  the  title  of  Doctor  of  Divinity,  who 
commanded  the  admiration  and  personal  esteem  of 
the  foremost  men  of  the  day,  and  whose  abilities  were 
frequently  sought  for  in  the  counsels  of  state,  the 
standard  of  theological  education  necessarily  de- 
clined, the  number  of  men  rightly  equipped  for  the 
holy  office  was  very  much  limited,  and  a  correspond- 
ing depression  of  the  life  and  activities  of  the 
Church  and  a  restriction  of  her  progress  became  in- 
evitable. 


CHAPTER  X. 

FORMATION  OF  THE  GENERAL  SYNOD. 

BRIGHTER  day  was  about  to  break  over 
the  Church.  Its  sun  rose  indeed  amid  over- 
hanging clouds,  nevertheless  it  rose  and  ushered 
in  a  period  of  extraordinary  prosperity,  development 
and  expansion.  The  spirit  of  Christianity  is  the 
spirit  of  unity.  The  mission  of  the  Chief  Shepherd 
was  "to  gather  together  in  one  the  children  ol  God 
that  were  scattered  abroad."  Sin  and  error  cause 
divisions  and  alienations.  The  Gospel,  as  it  reconciles 
men  to  God,  binds  them  also  to  one  another  in  sym- 
pathy and  affection.  He  that  loveth  God  the  Father 
of  all,  loveth  also  his  brother,  and  where  love  is  men 
are  drawn  together 

This  fraternal  spirit  was  animating  the  hearts  of 
many  in  the  Lutheran  Church  during  the  first  quarter 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  its  fruit  was  the  organi- 
zation of  the  General  Synod,  which,  recalling  in  many 
respects  the  blooming  period  of  Muhlenberg,  formed 
like  that  a  new  era  in  the  history  and  operations  of 
the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  of  this  country. 
She  became  once  again  distinguished  by  unity,  life, 
activity  and  wonderful  progress.  Those  having  the 
same  faith,  culture,  traditions  and  blood  even,  would 
naturally  be  attracted  together  by  the  affinities  of 
the  Gospel,  but  they  felt  also  the  necessity  for  a 
closer  bond  of  union  in  order  to  promote,  by  com- 
bined effort,  and  on  a  comprehensive  scale  the  general 

322 


REV.  S.  S.  SCHMl'CKER,  D.  I>. 


Formation  of  the  General  Synod.  323 

progress  of  Zion.  This  sentiment  had  been  growing 
for  years  and  the  desire  seemed  general,  that  there 
should  be  some  central  connection  in  order  that 
unnecessary  and  injurious  divisions  might  not  arise, 
that  more  general  conformity  in  the  usages  and  devo- 
tional books  of  the  Church  might  prevail,  and 
greater  strength  and  increased  efficiency  imparted  to 
those  enterprises,  in  which  concentration  is  so  essen- 
tial to  success. 

To  satisfy  this  Christian  yearning  for  fraternal  fel- 
lowship, to  provide  for  the  increasing  wants  of  the 
individual  congregations,  and  to  meet  the  responsi- 
bilities of  the  Church  as  a  body,  the  Lutheran  com- 
munities must  needs  enter  into  organic  relations  with 
each  other.  The  situation  was  ripe  for  carrying  it 
into  execution.  The  Spirit  of  God  had  prepared  the 
Church  for  an  advance. 

The  initiative  came  fittingly  from  the  Synod  of 
Pennsylvania,  which  was  the  mother  of  the  other 
Synods,  and  which  still  embraced  more  churches  and 
pastors  than  all  the  others.  The  first  traces  of  it  are 
found  in  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  at  Harrisburg  in 
1818,  where  it  was  "Resolved  that  the  Synod  regard 
it  as  desirable  that  the  different  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Synods  in  the  United  States  should  in  some  way  or 
other  stand  in  closer  connection  with  each  other; 
and  that  the  Reverend  Ministerium  be  charged  with 
the  consideration  of  this  matter,  and  if  the  Reverend 
Ministerium  recognize  the  advisability  of  it,  to  develop 
a  plan  for  a  closer  union,  and  to  see  to  it  that  some 
such  desirable  union  be  effected  if  possible."  "  Extra- 
ordinary unanimity  and  the  most  hearty  concord  and 


324  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

brotherly  love  prevailed  "  at  this  meeting,  for  which 
the  secretary  records  fervent  thanksgiving. 

The  officers  were  appointed  a  committee  on  cor- 
respondence to  give  efficacy  to  the  movement.  Com- 
munications expressive  of  the  Synod's  action  were 
accordingly  forwarded  to  the  other  Synods,  and  they 
were  invited  to  send  deputies  to  the  next  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  Pennsylvania  Synod,  to  be  held  in  Balti- 
more, Trinity  week,  1819,  for  the  purpose  of  consider- 
ing the  expediency  of  organizing  a  General  Synod. 

At  that  convention  a  letter  was  read  from  Pastor 
Quitman,  of  New  York,  favoring  a  more  intimate 
union  of  the  Synods.  No  mention  is  made  of  the 
Ohio  Synod.  But  the  North  Carolina  Synod,  hold- 
ing "  that  towards  such  a  Union  of  our  Church  all 
possible  assistance  ought  to  be  rendered,"  promptly 
elected  its  secretary,  Rev.  Gottlieb  Shober,  to  attend 
the  above  meeting  at  Baltimore,  and  in  the  name  of 
his  Synod,  "endeavor  to  effect  such  a  desirable 
union."  He  was  accorded  a  seat  and  a  vote,  and  his 
presence  for  this  particular  object  gave  great  en- 
couragement to  the  Synod  to  proceed  with  it.  It  be- 
came the  paramount  subject  of  consideration.  A 
committee  was  appointed  consisting  of  Rev.  Drs.  F.  D. 
Schaeffer,  J.  Daniel  Kurtz  and  J.  George  Schmucker 
with  Messrs.  Demuth,  Keller  and  Schorr  of  the  laity, 
and  the  delegate,  Rev.  Shober,  to  examine  the 
whole  matter  and  to  outline  a  plan  as  early  as  pos- 
sible. 

The  report  of  the  committee  was  thoroughly  dis- 
cussed and  its  plan  for  the  establishment  of  a  General 
Synod  adopted  by  a  vote  of  forty-two  to  eight.     Its 


Formation  of  I  lie  General  Synod.  325 

first  paragraph  states  that  in  view  of  the  extension 
of  the  Church  "over  the  greatest  part  of  the  United 
States  of  North  America,  and  as  the  members  of  the 
said  Church  are  anxious  to  walk  in  the  spirit  of  love 
and  concord,  under  one  rule  of  faith,  *  *  *  it  ap- 
pears to  be  the  almost  unanimous  wish  of  the  exist- 
ing synods  or  ministeriums,  that  a  fraternal  union  of 
the  whole  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  these 
United  States  might  be  effected,  by  means  of  some 
central  organization. " 

How  to  effect  such  "a  fraternal  union"  was  the 
problem.  The  Lutheran  Church  recognizes  in  no 
form  of  Church  government  any  divine  right  beyond 
that  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  individual  cono-re^a- 
tion,  which  includes  the  office  of  preaching  the  Gospel 
and  administering  the  sacraments.  This  principle 
being  guarded  the  fathers  were  at  liberty  to  adopt  any 
polity  that  would  best  subserve  the  end  in  view.  The 
outline  of  a  plan  modeled  largely  after  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly  formed 
the  basis  of  discussion  with  the  committee,  but  some 
prominent  features  of  the  Congregational  system  were 
also  introduced.  The  powers  of  the  General  Body 
were  made  chiefly  advisory,  the  judicial  and  executive 
authority  being  left  mainly  in  the  hands  of  the  indi- 
vidual synods.  It  was  designed  to  serve  as  "a  joint 
committee  of  the  special  synods,"  and  the  internal 
management  and  government  of  these  was  to  be  re- 
tained perpetually  in  their  hands,  "subject  only  to 
this  restriction,  that  such  rules  and  regulations  do  not 
conflict  with  these  fundamental  principles  of  the 
general  organization." 


326  TJic  Lutherans  in  America. 

Section  4  of  the  proposed  plan  surrendered  to  the 
General  Synod  "the  exclusive  right,  with  the  consent 
of  a  majority  of  the  special  synods,  of  introducing  new 
books  for  eeneral  use  in  the  Church,  and  also  of  mak- 
ing  improvements  in  the  Liturgy;  until  this  however 
takes  place,  the  hymn-books  now  in  use,  the  Small 
Catechism  of  Luther,  the  Liturgies  already  adopted, 
and  such  other  books  as  have  been  received  as 
Church  books  by  any  of  the  existing  synods,  shall 
continue  in  use  as  they  may  choose.  The  General 
Synod  however  has  no  power  to  make  or  to  demand 
any  alteration  whatever  in  the  doctrines  hitherto  re- 
ceived by  us." 

Provision  was  made  for  the  organization  of  new 
synods,  especially  in  States  not  yet  having  any  such 
organization.  Unless  the  permission  of  the  General 
Synod  shall  have  been  formally  obtained,  "  no  newly 
organized  body  shall  be  recognized  as  a  lawful  Min- 
isterium  among  us,  and  no  ordination  performed  by 
them  as  valid." 

The  plan  thus  adopted  by  the  Synod  of  Pennsyl- 
vania as  "a  proposition  for  a  General  Union  of  the 
the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  North  America"  was  signed  by  J.  George 
Schmucker,  President,  and  Conrad  Jaeger,  Secretary, 
and  was  published  for  general  distribution  among  all 
the  ministers  and  delegates  of  the  several  synods, 
with  the  understanding  that  they  were  to  take  action 
upon  it  as  soon  as  possible,  and  that  if  three-fourths 
of  the  Synods  adopted  it,  "at  least  in  its  spirit  and 
essentials,"  the  President  of  the  Synod  of  Pennsylva- 
nia should  proceed  to  call  a  convention  of  deputies, 


Formation  of  the  General  Synod.  327 

who  at  such  time  and  place  as  he  might  determine, 
should  meet  for  the  purpose  of  framing  for  themselves 
a  constitution  to  be  conformed  as  nearly  as  possible 
to  the  plan  proposed. 

The  proposition  having  been  favorably  received  by 
the  requisite  number  of  synods,  the  convention  for 
effecting  the  proposed  organization  was  announced 
to  be  held  at  Hagerstown,  Md.,  October  22,  1820. 
There  appeared  as  deputies  from  the  Synod  of  Penn- 
sylvania, Drs.  George  Lochman,  F.  W.  Geissenhainer, 
Christian  Endress,  J.  G.  Schmucker,  H.  A.  Muhlen- 
berg (a  son  of  Henry  E.  Muhlenberg,  D.  D.,  and  grand- 
son of  the  Patriarch),  and  Messrs.  Christian  Kunkel, 
William  Hensel  and  Peter  Strickler;  from  the  Synod 
of  New  York,  Rev.  Drs.  P.  F.  Mayer  and  F.  C.  Schaef- 
fer;  from  the  Synod  of  North  Carolina,  Revs.  G. 
Schober  and  P.  Schmucker;  from  the  Synod  of  Mary- 
land and  Virginia,  Rev.  Drs.  J.  D.  Kurtz,  D.  F.  Schaef- 
fer  and  Mr.  G.  Schryock.  "  It  was  much  regretted  by 
all  present,  that  from  the  Synod  in  the  State  of  Ohio 
the  expected  deputies  did  not  appear."  J.  D.  Kurtz, 
D.  D.,  was  chosen  President  of  the  Convention  and  H. 
A.  Muhlenberg,  D.  D.,  Secretary.  A  more  important 
meeting  was  never  held  within  the  bounds  of  the  Lu- 
theran Church  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  a  nobler 
band  of  enlightened  men  could  not  have  been  found 
at  the  time  within  her  pale — or  outside  of  it. 

They  seem  to  have  realized  the  responsibility  with 
which  they  were  charged  in  laying  the  foundations 
of  a  united  Lutheran  Church  on  this  continent,  and 
with  the  spirit  of  the  utmost  harmony  they  built  so 
wisely  that   their   structure  with    some    modifications, 


328  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

still  remains,  and  has  been  by  general  consent  one  of 
the  most  powerful  instruments  in  determining  the 
character  and  advancing  the  general  welfare  of  the 
Church.  Although  false  friends  within  and  hostile 
assailants  from  without  have  often  exposed  it  to  re- 
proach, few  men  familiar  with  its  history  will  withhold 
from  it  the  praise  that  directly  or  indirectly,  by  its 
own  development  on  right  lines,  as  well  as  by  stimu- 
lating its  opponents  to  a  right  development,  "it  has 
proved  a  great  blessing  to  the  Church.  From  its  in- 
fluence the  happiest  results  have  flowed,  even  to 
Synods  which  did  not  formally  unite  with  it."  "It 
was  at  this  crisis,"  says  the  Rev.  Charles  P.  Krauth, 
D.  D.,  in  The  Lutheran  and  Missionary,  March  17, 
1864,  "that  the  life  of  the  Church  displayed  itself  in 
the  formation  of  the  General  Synod.  The  formation 
was  a  great  act  of  faith,  made  as  the  framers  of  the 
constitution  sublimely  express  it,  in  reliance  'upon 
God  our  Father,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
under  the  guidance  and  direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  the  word  of  God.'  The  framers  of  that  constitu- 
tion should  be  as  dear  to  us  as  Lutherans,  as  the 
framers  of  our  Federal  Constitution  are  to  us  as 
Americans." 

The  convention  agreed  unanimously  upon  a  consti- 
tution which  was  essentially  identical  with  the  plan 
that  had  been  proposed  by  the  Pennsylvania  Synod. 
It  was  referred  to  the  several  Synods  with  the  provis- 
ion that  if  ratified  by  three  of  the  Synods  partici- 
pating in  its  preparation,  it  should  be  considered  bind- 
ing, and  the  chairman  of  the  convention  was  author- 
ized  to  call    the  first  meeting  of  the  united  body  at 


330  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

Frederick,  Md.,  on  the  third  Monday  in  October,  182 1. 
The  absence  of  deputies  from  the  Synod  of  Ohio  hav- 
ing occasioned  much  disappointment,  a  friendly  letter 
was  ordered  to  be  addressed  to  its  President  "encour- 
aging him,  if  possible,  to  prevail  on  said  Synod  to 
unite  with  their  brethren  in  the  adoption  of  the  con- 
stitution." So  confident  were  these  deputies  of  the 
ratification  of  their  work  by  the  requisite  number  of 
synods,  that  in  their  zeal  they  proceeded  at  once  with 
the  initial  steps  for  the  founding  of  some  of  the  insti- 
tutions contemplated.  One  committee  was  appointed 
to  form  a  plan  for  a  Seminary  of  Education.  This 
consisted  of  Drs.  Schmucker,  Lochman,  Endress, 
Geissenhainer  and  Muhlenberg.  Another  committee 
was  charged  to  form  a  plan  for  a  Missionary  Institu- 
tion. A  third  committee  was  to  form  a  plan  in  aid  of 
poor  ministers,  and  ministers'  widows  and  orphans. 

At  the  next  annual  convention  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Synod,  held  in  Chambersburg,  June,  182 1,  "after  every 
article  had  been  maturely  considered  and  unanimously 
agreed  upon,"  the  constitution  was  adopted  by  a  vote 
of  sixty-seven  against  six.  The  Synod  of  Maryland 
and  Virginia  at  its  next  meeting,  in  Frederick,  Sep- 
tember 2-4,  also  adopted  it  with  entire  unanimity. 
And  so  did  the  Synod  of  North  Carolina.  In  the 
Synod  of  New  York  the  subject  encountered  singular 
indifference.  In  1819  this  body  had  discussed  at  some 
length  the  plan  proposed,  and  Drs.  Mayer  and  Schaef- 
fer  represented  it  at  the  convention  to  form  a  consti- 
tution in  1820.  These  delegates  reported  at  the  sub- 
sequent meeting  of  that  Synod  in  1821,  and  presented 
the  Constitution  to  the  General  Synod.     "The  same 


Formation  of  the   General  Synod.  331 

was  read  and  debated,  and  it  was  finally  resolved  that 
the  secretary  exert  himself  to  secure  more  copies  of 
this  constitution  and  that  the  further  discussion  be 
postponed."  The  question  of  uniting  was  referred  to 
the  congregations.  In  1822  the  secretary  reported 
that  only  a  few  congregations  had  communicated  their 
decision.  "The  majority  of  the  answers  indicated, 
however,  that  the  connection  with  the  General  Synod 
was  for  the  present  not  feasible,  (unpraktisch),"  though 
no  objections  were  raised  against  the  project. 

Three  of  the  synods  having  ratified  the  constitution, 
the  first  regular  convention  of  the  General  Synod  met 
in  Frederick,  Md.,  October  21-23,  182 1.  Rev.  George 
Lochman,  D.  D.,  conducted  services  in  the  morning 
in  the  German  language,  Rev.  J.  G.  Schmucker,  D.  D., 
preached  in  the  afternoon  in  German,  and  Rev.  C. 
Endress,  D.  D.,  at  night  in  the  English  language. 
Representatives  were  present  from  the  Synods  of 
Pennsylvania,  North  Carolina,  Maryland  and  Virginia. 
Those  from  the  first  were  Drs.  J.  G,  Schmucker,  Loch- 
man and  Endress,  with  lay  deputies  C.  A.  Barnitz,  F. 
Sharrets  and  P.  Brua;  from  the  second,  Revs.  Shober 
and  Scherer;  from  the  latter  body,  Rev.  D.  F.  Schaef- 
fer  and  John  Ebert,  Esq.  Thus  while  fifteen  repre- 
sentatives had  participated  in  the  formation  of  the 
constitution,  only  ten  took  part  in  the  proceedings  of 
the  first  regular  meeting.  "But  on  account  of  a  pre- 
vailing epidemic  and  an  error  in  the  advertisement  of 
the  newspapers  concerning  the  time  of  meeting,  there 
were  absent  four  deputies  elected  by  the  Synod  of 
Pennsylvania,  two  by  the  Synod  of  North  Carolina 
and   two   by   the  Synod  of   Maryland   and   Virginia." 


^3 2  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

The  whole  number,  therefore,  properly  constitut- 
ing the  first  meeting  was  twenty.  Dr.  Lochman 
was  President  of  the  body,  Dr.  David  F.  Schaeffer 
Secretary,  and  Hon.  C.  A.  Barnitz,  Treasurer.  The 
number  was  small.  Their  resources  were  slender. 
Formidable  obstacles  confronted  them.  But  the  Spirit 
of  Christ  had  wrought  within  them  strong  desires 
and  high  expectations.  There  was  withal  a  reso- 
lute will   and  a    lofty,  world-conquering  faith. 

Keenly  sensible  of  the  immediate  and  pressing  needs 
of  the  Church,  the  members  of  the  first  General  Synod 
wrestled  earnestly  with  the  problems  of  Ministerial 
Education,  Home  Missions,  and  the  Catechisation  of 
the  Young.  While  clearly  perceiving  the  necessity  for 
a  Theological  Seminary  it  was  deemed  advisable, 
among  other  reasons,  "on  account  of  the  pressure  of 
the  times,"  to  defer  its  establishment  for  several  years, 
but  in  the  meanwhile  measures  were  proposed  in  an- 
ticipation of  the  early  founding  of  such  an  institution. 
The  subject  was  to  be  agitated,  the  minds  of  the  con- 
gregations prepared  for  it,  and  a  well  selected  and 
extensive  library  collected  for  the  use  of  the  Seminary. 

Considerable  discussion  having  been  o-iven  to  the 
subject  of  Home  Missions,  "the  several  district  Synods 
were  earnestly  recommended  to  send  one  or  more  mis- 
sionaries to  such  parts  of  the  country  as,  in  their  opin- 
ion, stood  most  in  need  of  them."  Drs.  Endress, 
Schmucker,  Lochman,  D.  F.  Schaeffer,  and  Rev.  Sho- 
ber  were  appointed  to  prepare  an  English  Cate- 
chism. At  this  covention  the  the  Pennsylvania  Synod 
reported  on  its  roll  eighty-five  ministers,  who  had  dur- 
ing the  year  confirmed  "about  four   or  five  hundred 


Formation  of  the   General  Synod.  333 

persons  "  and  whose  congregations  maintained  two 
hundred  and  ninety-five  schools.  The  Synod  of 
Maryland  and  Virginia  reported  fifteen  ministers  who 
had  confirmed  five  hundred  and  eighty  during  the  year, 
and  the  Synod  of  North  Carolina  thirteen  ministers 
and  two  hundred  and  twenty  confirmations. 

So  wise  and  beneficent  an  organization  as  the  Gen- 
eral Synod  was  designed  to  be  can  not  proceed  very 
far  without  hindrances  and  antagonisms.  It  began  its 
career,  indeed,  with  remarkable  freedom  from  oppo- 
sition. But  every  new  departure  in  civil  or  religious 
society,  every  forward  movement  in  the  cause  of  truth 
and  righteousness,  must  run  the  gauntlet  of  denuncia- 
tion, hostility  and  misrepresentation.  The  price  of 
every  noble   institution  is  a  struggle  for  existence. 

The  general  union  of  Lutheran  Synods  in  this  coun- 
try must  submit  to  the  same  law  of  trial,  and  only 
after  it  has  stood  the  fiery  test  and  proved  its  vitality, 
its  worthiness  to  live,  could  it  expect  to  go  forward 
with  the  divine  work  of  developing  the  Church  and 
extending-  her  borders.  The  laudable  endeavor  to 
unite  the  different  sections  of  the  Church,  so  that  by 
harmony  of  counsel  and  concert  of  action  a  general 
advance  might  be  effected,  had  scarcely  been  inaugu- 
rated when  the  whole  movement  seemed  to  be  sud- 
denly frustrated.  "The  hopes  which  had  been  cher- 
ished for  the  improvement  of  our  Zion  seemed  blasted, 
and  many  were  disposed  to  abandon  the  project  of  a 
union."  Happily  the  project  was  of  God,  and  brave 
and  capable  men  with  strong  faith  and  with  true  hearts, 
men  capable  of  enduring  hardship  and  of  meeting  the 
issue,  were  provided  for  the  crisis. 


334  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

At  the  second  convention  of  the  General  Synod, 
held  at  Frederick,  October  19-21,  1823,  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Ministerium,  the  parent  synod,  which  had  been 
really  the  founder  of  the  General  Synod,  was  not  rep- 
resented. At  its  regular  convention  in  the  year  1823, 
it  passed  resolutions  severing  its  connection  with  the 
general  body.  This  withdrawal  was  not  caused  by 
any  doctrinal  divergence  between  the  former  body 
and  the  latter.  Neither  had  any  misunderstandings 
arisen  among  the  leaders,  nor  any  dissatisfaction  with 
the  avowed  plans  and  purposes  of  the  organization. 
Nor  indeed  was  the  recession  designed  to  be  perma- 
nent, but  only  "until  such  time  in  the  future  as  the 
congregations  themselves  shall  see  their  mistake  of 
our  true  intention,  and  shall  call  for  a  reconsideration 
of  these  resolutions." 

The  trouble  arose  with  the  congregations.  The 
idea  was  conceived  and  spread  among  them  that  such 
an  organization  mi^ht  become  an  instrument  of  eccle- 
siastical  tyranny.  Dolorous  predictions  were  uttered, 
malicious  representations  circulated  and  violent  hos- 
tility excited  against  it.  So  jealous,  indeed,  were  the 
people  of  their  political  rights,  the  price  of  which  had 
not  yet  been  forgotten,  so  suspicious  were  they  of 
authority,  and  so  morbidly  sensitive  was  their  dread 
of  power  in  any  domain,  that  they  professed  to  fear  in 
such  a  union  necessary  for  the  strengthening  and  up- 
building of  the  Church,  an  institution  dangerous  to 
the  liberties  of  the  American  people.  Ministers  of 
other  denominations  were  largely  instrumental  in  ex- 
citing these  groundless  fears  and  inflaming  bitter  op- 
position   to    a    movement    designed    to    enhance    the 


Formation  of  tJie  General  Synod.  335 

growth  and  influence  of  the  Lutheran  communion. 
They  unfortunately  succeeded  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  ministers  of  the  Pennsylvania  Synod  felt  con- 
strained to  yield  to  the  adverse  pressure,  unreason- 
able and  mistaken  as  it  was,  and  to  dissolve  formal  re- 
lations withthe  general  body.  So  far  were  the  leading 
men  of  the  Synod  from  manifesting  any  antagonism  or 
unfriendliness  to  the  General  Synod,  that  they  con- 
tinued to  view  it  "as  highly  beneficial  to  the  interests 
of  the  Church,"  and  strongly  deplored  the  "  peculiar 
circumstances  "  which  compelled  them  to  this  course, 
circumstances  which  the  General  Synod  itself  recog- 
nized "  as  excusing  if  not  absolutely  necessitating  the 
attitude  of  the  Old  Synod  in  its  temporary  recession." 
Expressions  of  the  most  cordial  good  feeling  and  con- 
fidence were  exchanged,  and  the  hope  indulged  and 
expressed  on  both  sides  that  the  enforced  separation 
over  which  both  grieved  would  come  to  an  early  and 
happy  end. 

The  absence  of  a  delegation  from  the  Pennsylvania 
Synod,  on  whose  leadership  and  influence  so  much 
had  been  reckoned,  cast  a  deep  gloom  over  the  second 
convention.  It  certainly  looked  as  if  the  General 
Synod  could  not  survive  this  overwhelming  disaster 
in  the  first  years  of  its  feeble  beginnings.  It  is  not 
surprising  that  "very  little  seems  to  have  been  done." 
The  wonder  is  that  there  was  heart  to  do  anything 
Yet  some  measures  were  adopted  which  were  impor- 
tant as  exponents  of  the  spirit  that  animated  the  little 
body  of  delegates. 

Such  was  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  open 
communication  with  the    Lutheran  Church  in  Europe, 


33°  The  Lutherans  in  America 

in  order  to  elicit  "correct  information  relative  to  the 
spiritual  prosperity  of  our  Church  in  the  several  em- 
pires, kingdoms  and  places  abroad,  to  promote  the 
unity  of  the  Church,  and  to  invite  the  prayers  and  ex- 
ertions of  each  other,  for  the  prosperity  of  the  Church 
of  Christ  in  the  world."  An  address  prepared  by 
Revs.  S.  S.  Schmucker  and  D.  F.  Schaeffer,  and  pub- 
lished for  general  distribution  in  all  the  synods,  ex- 
presses grateful  acknowledgment  to  God  for  the 
prosperity  and  rapid  extension  of  the  Church,  which 
had  reached  an  aggregate  of  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  ministers,  nine  hundred  congregations  and  over 
fifty  thousand  communicants.  It  upholds  the  Gen- 
eral Synod  as  loudly  called  for  by  the  best  interests 
of  Zion,  as  needful  to  guard  "against  diversity  in 
doctrine  and  practice,  and  to  prevent  discord  and 
schism."  It  rejoices  that  "the  spirit  of  piety  and  zeal 
is  advancing  throughout  their  borders,"  asks  the 
prayers  of  the  Church  for  more  ministers  to  carry  the 
Gospel  to  the  frontier,  urges  liberal  contributions  to 
the  missionary  fund,  exhorts  the  several  synods  "to 
persevere  in  their  evangelical  habit  of  annually  send- 
ing out  missionaries,  lauds  especially  the  Ohio  Synod 
and  the  Tennessee  Conference,  for  making  all  possible 
exertions  to  meet  the  pressing  calls  for  Gospel  minis- 
trations which  come  to  them  from  the  remote  west 
and  pleads  with  the  latter  body  to  dismiss  its  scruples 
and  apprehensions  respecting  the  constitution  of  the 
General  Synod. 

A  Formula  or  Directory  of  Discipline  and  Govern- 
ment, which  had  been  adopted  by  the  Synod  of  Mary- 
land and   Virginia,  "was  carefully  examined,  and  was 


Formation  of  the  General  Synod.  337 

unanimously  approved,  as  fully  accordant  with  Scrip- 
ture and  sound  reason,  and  in  harmony  with  the  es- 
tablished  principles  of  the   Lutheran  Church." 

The  disheartening  impression  produced  by  the  loss 
of  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania  was  in  a  measure  coun- 
teracted by  the  presence  of  two  delegations  from 
bodies  which  had  not  heretofore  participated  in  the 
General  Synod.  Rev.  Peter  Schmucker  and  Rev.  J. 
Steck  appeared  as  representatives  from  the  Synod  of 
Ohio.  This  body  soon  severed  its  connection,  al- 
though in  this  instance,  as  in  that  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Ministerium,  cordial  relations  and  a  measure  of  co- 
operation with  the  general  body  were  maintained  for 
a  number  of  years. 

Rev.  J.  G.  Schmucker,  D.  D.,  and  Rev.  J.  Herbst 
were  received  as  representatives  "appointed  by  the 
conference  of  the  ministers  west  of  the  Susquehanna, 
belonging  to  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania."  A  special 
conference  of  these  ministers  held  two  weeks  before 
at  York,  Pa.,  had  selected  these  brethren  as  their  rep- 
resentatives. The  fears  and  the  prejudices  ao-ainst 
the  General  Synod  seem  to  have  been  altoo-ether 
local,  and  as  they  did  not  exist  west  of  the  river,  these 
congregations  with  their  ministers  proposed  a  sepa- 
rate organization  and  thereby  they  secured  the  con- 
tinuance of  their  connection  with  the  General  Synod. 
An  actual  separation  from  the  Pennsylvania  Synod 
had  not  yet  been  consummated.  At  another  special 
conference  held  at  Greencastle,  November  6-9,  1824, 
they  resolved  upon  the  formation  of  a  synod  to  in- 
clude all  the  territory  of  the  State  west  of  the  river. 
This  action  was  communicated  to  the  mother  synod 


338  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

at  its  next  regular  convention,  with  a  plea  for  the 
recognition  of  the  new  body  as  one  of  the  regular 
synods  of  the  American  Lutheran  Church.  Among 
the  reasons  alleged  for  this  movement  were  the  dis- 
tance and  expense  connected  with  attendance  upon 
synodical  meetings,  and  the  advantages  of  a  small 
body  for  the  better  cultivation  of  the  field  within  its 
bounds,  for  a  closer  union  among  brethren,  and  for 
the  better  supervision  of  their  private  and  official 
walk.  Their  desire  for  preserving  the  union  with  the 
General  Synod  had  also  doubtless  some  weight.  Its 
leaders  were  among  the  staunchest  and  most  zealous 
advocates  of  that  body.  When  their  petition  came 
before  the  parent  synod  at  Reading  in  1825,  the  latter 
expressed  pain  at  the  separation  of  these  brethren,  but 
agreed  to  recognize  them  as  a  sister  synod. 

Separations  and  new  aggregations  were  thus  taking 
place,  but  as  yet  the  attitude  of  each  division  or 
organization  of  the  Lutheran  Church  to  all  the  others 
was  peaceable  and  friendly,  except  in  the  territory  of 
the  Synod  of  North  Carolina. 

The  constituency  of  the  General  Synod  was  up  to 
the  year  1830  limited  to  the  Synods  of  North  Carolina, 
Maryland  and  Virginia,  and  West  Pennsylvania,  a 
body  feeble  in  numbers  but  strong  in  energy,  faith  and 
devotion  to  the  Church.  The  discouragements  ex- 
perienced, the  opposition  that  began  to  rumble  in 
certain  quarters  and  some  malicious  aspersions  had 
the  happy  effect  of  stimulating  its  friends  to  greater 
zeal  and  exertion.  The  loss  of  powerful  allies  re- 
sulted in  rallying  the  forces  that  remained  and  closing 
the  ranks. 


Formation  of  the  General  Synod.  339 

At  its  next  meeting,  in  Frederick,  November  7,  1825, 
energetic  measures  were  taken  "to  commence  forth- 
with in  the  name  of  the  Triune  God,  and  in  humble 
reliance  on  his  aid  the  establishment  of  ?  Theological 
Seminary,"  in  which  shall  be  taught,  "in  the  German 
and  English  languages,  the  fundamental  doctrines  of 
the  sacred  Scriptures,  as  contained  in  the  Augsburg 
Confession."  Although  Hartwick  Seminary,  whose 
curriculum  was  not  confined  to-  theological  studies, 
was  at  the  time  reported  to  be  "  in  the  most  flourish- 
ing condition,"  it  was  held  to  be  "a  solemn  duty  of  the 
General  Synod  imposed  on  it  by  the  constitution  and 
due  from  it  to  God  and  the  Church,  to  provide  for  the 
proper  education  of  men  of  piety  and  of  talents  for 
the  Gospel  ministry."  If  the  Church  was  to  live  and 
maintain  a  distinct  existence,  it  must  be  supplied  with 
a  learned  and  consecrated  ministry,  a  band  of  breth- 
ren, who  experienced  the  same  training,  were  governed 
by  the  same  principles  and  directed  by  the  same 
spirit. 

The  committee  charged  with  the  preparation  of  a 
plan  were  Revs.  B.  Kurtz,  S.  S.  Schmucker  J.  Herbst, 
B.  Keller  and  Messrs.  Harry  and  Hauptman.  The 
General  Synod  elected  the  first  board  of  directors,  but 
their  successors  were  to  be  elected  by  the  Synods  con- 
nected with  the  General  Synod  and  contributing- 
pecuniary  aid  to  the  institution.  The  General  Synod 
also  elected  the  first  professor,  S.  S.  Schmucker,  after 
which,  it  was  provided,  the  Board  of  Directors  shall 
have  the  exclusive  authority  of  electing  additional  pro- 
fessors. Agents  were  appointed  to  prosecute  the  so- 
licitation of  funds,  Drs.  Lochman,  Endress  and  Muh- 


34°  Tlie  Lutherans  in  America. 

lenberg,  and  Rev.  Demme  for  the  Synod  of  East 
Pennsylvania,  the  name  now  for  some  time  given  to 
the  Old  Synod;  Dr.  Schmucker  and  Revs.  Herbst  and 
Keller  that  of  West  Pennsylvania ;  Revs.  Stouch 
and  Steck,  Ohio  and  Indiana;  Dr.  P.  Mayer  and 
Revs.  Geissenhainer,  F.  C.  Schaeffer  and  Lintner,  the 
Synod  of  New  York ;  S.  S.  Schmucker,  Philadelphia 
and  the  Eastern  States  ;  Revs.  Reck,  Meyerheffer  and 
Krauth,  Virginia ;  Revs.  B.  Kurtz,  H.  Graber,  Roth- 
rauf  and  Little,  Maryland;  Rev.  W.  Jenkins,  Tennes- 
see ;  Revs.  J.  Scherer  and  J.  Reck,  North  Carolina  ; 
and  Revs.  Bachman  and  Dreher,  South  Carolina. 
Rev.  Benjamin  Kurtz  was  at  the  same  time  selected 
to  proceed  to  Europe  and  solicit  money  and  books  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Seminary. 

A  few  months  later,  March  1826,  the  Board  assem- 
bled at  Hagerstown,  adopted  a  constitution,  and 
accepted  the  offer  of  $7,000  and  use  of  a  building  from 
Gettysburg,  not  only  because  it  made  the  most  gen- 
erous proposals,  but  because  it  was  deemed  most 
central.  On  the  first  Tuesday  in  September  the  in- 
stitution was  opened  with  ten  students,  of  whom  Jona- 
than Oswald,  D.  D.,  and  J.  G.  Morris,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 
still  survive.  It  was  a  day  of  profound  rejoicing  over 
the  answer  "  to  the  prayers  and  desires  which  many  in 
our  Zion  have  long  breathed  forth."  The  second 
year  saw  the  number  rise  to  twenty-three,  and  the 
school  soon  won  its  way  to  the  heart  and  confidence 
of  the  Church  and  prospered  beyond  the  most  san- 
guine expectation  of  its  friends.  Viewed  from  the 
present  state  of  the  Church  those  were  the  days  of 
feebleness  and  poverty,  yet,  the  situation  being  con- 


Formation  of  the  General  Synod. 


34i 


sidered,  the  efforts  and  liberality  of  our  fathers  do  not 
suffer  in  comparison  with  what  we  boast  of  to-day. 
Prof.  Schmucker  in  canvassing  Philadelphia  for  funds 
wrote :  "  My  solicitations  have  been  directed  chiefly 
to  the  members  of  the  Lutheran  churches,  whom  I 
found  to  be  a  liberal,  wealthy  and  generous  people." 
In  less  than  a  year  subscriptions  amounting  to  $17,513 

were  made. 

Thus  was  founded    the    Seminary  of   the  General 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  GETTYSBURG,  PA. 

Synod,  which  for  many  years  was  the  principal  train- 
ing school  for  Lutheran  ministers  in  America,  which 
has  for  nearly  seventy  years  been  sending  out  a  con- 
stant supply  of  able  ministers  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  which  has  furnished  not  only  a  large  majority  of 
the  most  eminent  and  successful  pastors,  missionaries 
and  professors  connected  with  the  General  Synod, 
with  which  body  it  still  holds  a  formal  connection,  but 


34  2  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

also  a  number  of  the  founders  and  leaders  of  the  Gen- 
eral Council  and  many  of  the  most  distinguished  min- 
isters of  the  United  Synod.  It  was  the  first  product 
of  the  General  Synod,  as  it  was  in  fact  the  principal 
object  contemplated  in  its  organization.  The  subject 
had  been  warmly  agitated  in  various  quarters,  but 
especially  in  the  Synod  of  Maryland,  which  was  at  the 
time  largely  composed  of  stirring,  zealous  and  enlight- 
ened young  men,  such  as  C.  P.  Krauth,  Benjamin 
Kurtz.  Abraham  Reck,  S.  S.  Schmucker  and,  leader  of 
them  all,  David  F.  Schaeffer.  The  principal  impulse 
to  the  General  Synod's  action  as  well  as  the  draft  of 
the  constitution  of  the  seminary  are  to  be  ascribed  to 
this  illustrious  group.  The  professor's  oath  bound 
him  to  the  Augsburg  Confession  and  the  Catechisms 
of  Luther  "as  a  summary  and  just  exhibition  of  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  the  word  of  God."  The 
charo-e  of  Rev.  Schaeffer  at  the  installation  of  Profes- 
sor Schmucker  contains  the  following:  "  As  the  Lord 
has  sio-nally  favored  our  Church — as  her  tenets  are 
biblical,  and  her  veriest  enemies  cannot  point  out  an 
important  error  in  her  articles  of  faith,  no  more  than 
could  the  enemies  of  the  truth  at  the  Diet  of  Worms 
prove  the  books  of  the  immortal  Reformer  erroneous. 
Therefore,  the  Church  which  entrusts  you  with  the 
preparation  and  formation  of  her  pastors,  demands  of 
you  (and  in  her  behalf  I  solemnly  charge  you)  to  es- 
tablish all  students  confided  to  your  care,  in  that  faith 
which  distinguishes  our  Church  from  others.  If  any 
should  object  to  such  faith,  or  any  part  of  it,  or  refuse 
to  be  convinced  of  the  excellence  of  our  discipline 
they  have  their  choice  to  unite  with  such  of  our  Chris- 


Formatioii  of  the  General  Synod.  343 

tian  brethren,  whose  particular  views  in  matters  of 
faith  and  discipline  may  suit  them  better.  I  hold  it, 
however,  as  indispensable  for  the  peace  and  welfare  of 
a  Church  that  unity  of  sentiment  should  prevail  upon 
all  important  matters  of  faith  and  discipline  among 
the  pastors  thereof.  Hence  I  charge  you  to  exert 
yourself  in  convincing  our  students  that  the  Augsburg 
Confession  is  a  safe  directory  to  determine  upon  mat- 
ters of  faith,  declared  upon  the  Lamb's  book."  A  sen- 
timent of  charity  for  other  denominations  of  Chris- 
tians is  expressed  "but  the  different  genera  and  spe- 
cies should  be  preserved  according  to  their  peculiar 
nature." 

With  the  retirement  of  the  older  leaders  through 
age  and  death,  and  the  withdrawal  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Synod,  several  young  men  came  to  the  front  who  by 
their  ability  and  their  prominence  swayed  for  a  gen- 
eration an  influence  equalled  by  none  of  their  con- 
temporaries in  the  Church.  One  was  Benjamin  Kurtz, 
D.  D.,  a  grandson  of  Rev.  John  Nicholas  Kurtz. 
Subject  in  early  youth  to  deep  religious  convictions 
he  studied  theology  under  Dr.  Lochman  and  entered 
the  ministry  in  1815,  assisting  for  a  while  his  uncle,  J. 
D.  Kurtz,  D.  D.,  in  Baltimore,  but  accepting  shortly 
a  call  to  Hagerstown.  He  was  the  only  Lutheran  min- 
ister in  Washington  county,  which  comprised  then  at 
least  ten  congregations.  During  his  pastorate  of  six- 
teen years  he  succeeded — not  without  bitter  and  stub- 
born opposition — in  introducing  English  preaching, 
prayer-meetings,  Sunday  Schools  and  temperance 
societies.  Upon  the  establishment  of  the  theological 
seminary    he    was    commissioned  to   proceed  to   Ger- 


344  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

many  to  solicit  aid  for  the  young  and  needy  institu- 
tion. The  German  ministers  in  London  became  once 
more  the  medium  of  communication,  and  through 
these  he  was  cordially  commended  to  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal authorities  of  Germany,  under  whose  patronage 
he  pleaded  his  cause  with  marked  effect  in  the  presence 
of  the  highest  classes,  including  royalty  itself.  Im- 
mense crowds  attended  the  churches  in  which  he 
officiated  and  his  preaching  and  his  cause  won  exten- 
sive popularity.  He  was  absent  nearly  two  years  and 
returned  with  about  $10,000,  besides  a  large  number 
of  books  for  the  library,  while  the  stream  of  liberality 
which  he  opened  continued  to  flow  long  after. 

In  1S33  he  took  editorial  charge  of  the  Lutheran 
Observer,  a  paper  which,  under  his  conduct  for  thirty 
years,  became  a  notable  power,  every  onward  move- 
ment finding-  in  it  an  earnest  and  able  advocate.  Late 
in  life  and  amid  the  opposition  of  nearly  the  whole 
Church  he  projected  the  Missionary  Institute,  located 
at  Selins  Grove,  Pa.,  for  the  purpose  of  preparing  for 
the  Lutheran  ministry  such  candidates  as  were  either 
too  far  advanced  in  years  or  prevented  by  other  cir- 
cumstances from  pursuing  a  collegiate  course  and  a 
full  theological  curriculum. 

S.  S.  Schmucker,  D.  D.,  was  a  son  of  Rev.  J.  G. 
Schmucker,  D.  D.  He  pursued  his  classical  studies 
at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  after  reading 
theology  for  a  time  under  his  father,  took  the  full 
course  at  Princeton  Seminary.  He  was  without  doubt 
at  that  time  "the  best  educated  young  man  in  the  Lu- 
theran Church  in  this  country."  He  was  also  recog- 
nized   throughout    his    career    as  a  man    of   devoted 


Formation  of   the   General  Synod.  345 

piety,  of  exalted  Christian  character  and  of  self-sacri- 
ficing zeal  for  the  advancement  of  the  Church  and  her 
institutions,  fighting  for  years  ill-health  with  one  hand 
while  with  habits  of  indefatigable  industry  the  other 
was  toiling  and  writing  in  behalf  of  the  interests  of 
Zion.  Endowed  with  rare  qualities  of  leadership,  it 
fell  to  his  lot  to  do  the  principal  work  in  providing 
the  necessary  ecclesiastical,  literature.  To  his  clear 
head  and  persevering  activity  the  Church  is  mainly 
indebted  for  the  Formula  of  discipline,  English  hymn- 
book,  liturgy,  catechism,  and  the  constitution  of  the 
Theological  Seminary. 

Called  to  preside  over  this  institution  at  its  founda- 
tion, he  was  for  some  time  its  sole  professor  and  he 
may  justly  be  called  its  father.  He  held  this  position 
until  1864,  a  period  of  nearly  forty  years,  and  during 
this  time,  by  his  ascendency  over  the  minds  of  his  stu- 
dents, his  numerous  publications,  his  debates  at  synod, 
and  his  manifest  devotion  to  every  cause  of  public  ir 
terest,  he  was  beyond  question  the  most  conspicuous 
and  influential  man  in  the  Lutheran  Church  in  Amer- 
ica and  the  best  known  to  the  Christian  community 
outside  of  it. 

Notwithstanding  his  laborious  activity  and  mani- 
fold cares  in  connection  with  the  Seminary,  the  estab- 
lishment of  Pennsylvania  College,  the  collection  of 
funds,  erection  of  buildings  and  the  like,  he  was  one 
of  the  most  prolific  authors  that  the  Church  has  yet 
produced.  The  most  important  of  his  publications 
were  his  "  Popular  Theology  "  which  passed  through 
nine  editions,  "Psychology,"  a  translation  of  Storr  and 
Flatt's  "Theology,"  "  Lutheran  Manual,"  and  the  "  Lu- 


346  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

theran  Church  in  America."  He  was  an  ardent  advo- 
cate of  Christian  union  and  his  "  Fraternal  Appeal," 
published  in  1838,  gave  him  such  recognition  in  differ- 
ent churches  and  countries  that  when  in  1846  he  at- 
tended the  first  meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance 
in  London,  Dr.  King  of  Ireland  did  not  hesitate  to 
•  call  him  the  father  of  the  Alliance. 

His  liberal  attitude  toward  other  denominations 
and  his  qualified  acceptance  of  some  of  the  distinctive 
tenets  of  his  own  Church  exposed  him,  especially  in 
his  later  years,  to  the  criticism  and  stern  opposition 
of  many  of  his  Lutheran  brethren.  At  the  beginning 
of  his  ministry,  when  great  doctrinal  laxity  prevailed, 
he  stood  in  advance  of  the  majority  of  Lutheran  min- 
isters in  holding  to  the  Auofsburo-  Confession.  But 
when  about  1850  there  set  in  a  decided  reaction  in 
favor  of  the  faith  which  had  for  centuries  distinguished 
the  Lutheran  Church,  and  which  was  emblazoned  on 
her  banner  as  it  was  first  unfurled  on  these  shores, 
when  in  the  lantruaofe  of  the  elder  Krauth  "  the  Church 
was  disposed  to  renew  her  connection  with  the  past, 
and  in  her  future  progress  to  walk  under  the  guidance 
of  the  light  which  it  has  furnished,"  Dr.  Schmucker 
not  only  did  not  sympathize  with  the  movement  but 
he  opposed  it  by  voice  and  pen  with  all  his  ability. 
The  result  was  sharp  controversies,  painful  alienations, 
many  of  his  warmest  friends  deprecating  his  course 
and  deeply  regretting  that  he  could  see  only  error  in 
statements  and  definitions  which  they  believed  to  be 
the  truth  of  Scripture,  but  no  one  questioned  the  sin- 
cerity of  his  convictions  or  the  completeness  of  his 
consecration  to  Christ  and  his  Church. 


Formation  of  the  General  Synod.  347 

A  life-long  associate  of  Prof.  Schmucker  and  his 
ablest  co-laborer  in  the  establishment  and  upbuilding 
of  the  institutions  at  Gettysburg  and  the  preparation 
of  church  manuals,  was  Rev.  Chas.  Philip  Krauth, 
D.  D.  After  preaching  for  some  years  in  Virginia,  he 
was  for  seven  years  pastor  of  St.  Matthews,  Philadel- 
phia. Chosen  the  first  President  of  Pennsylvania 
College  he  held  that  position  from  1834  to  1850,  when 
he  accepted  the  chair  of  Biblical  Philology  and 
Ecclesiastical  History  in  the  Seminary,  devoting 
henceforth  to  the  day  of  his  death  his  time  exclusively 
to  this  Institution  in  which  he  had  for  years  previously 
been  imparting  instruction. 

He  was  a  man  of  marked  intellectual  force,  of  sin- 
gular purity  of  character,  of  a  generous  heart,  a  benig- 
nant disposition,  courtly  manners  and  a  princely 
mien.  His  reading  covered  the  whole  field  of  theo- 
logical science  and  that  of  polite  literature.  He  was 
a  forcible  writer  and  in  his  prime  an  eloquent  preach- 
er. He  had  his  very  being  in  the  General  Synod 
from  its  organization  all  through  his  life,  and  his 
loyalty  to  the  Confessions  and  historic  principles  of 
the  Lutheran  Church  was  never  questioned.  Parties 
whose  hostility  to  these  was  undisguised  were  wont 
indeed  to  call  him  "  Symbolic  "  and  "Old  Lutheran." 
His  sound  judgment  and  calm  temper  led  to  his 
appointment  on  the  most  important  committees,  and 
in  1841  he  served  as  chairman  of  the  committee  en- 
trusted with  the  duty  of  preparing  an  English  liturgy. 
Though  not  given  to  theological  controversies  he 
commanded  a  strong  influence  and  his  opinions  had 
great  weight  among  his   associates  and  students.     A 


348  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

most  intimate  life-long  friend  says  of  him:  "He  was 
the  most  unselfish  man  I  ever  knew.  All  his  labors, 
studies,  prayers,  and  earnings  were  for  the  good  of 
others.  When  his  name  was  mentioned  it  was  with 
reverence;  when  his  conduct  was  spoken  of  it  was 
with  approbation.  No  student  ever  left  Gettysburg 
who  did  not  admire  his  character  as  a  man."  His 
piety  was  indeed  of  the  highest  type,  the  students 
spoke  of  him  as  "  the  beloved  disciple,"  and  his  calm 
and  holy  life  fittingly  closed  with  the  words  "  Peace, 
all  is  peace." 

The  energy  of  the  new  life  pulsating  through  the 
body  of  Christ  could  not  expend  itself  on  a  single  in- 
stitution. The  very  object  of  the  Seminary  was  to 
produce  a  revival  of  every  languishing  interest,  to  give 
momentum  and  homogeneity  to  every  form  of  Chris- 
tian enterprise.  The  General  Synod  was  small  in 
numbers,  it  was  feeble  in  resources,  it  was  threatened 
with  serious  dangers  and  even  with  dissolution  from 
its  birth,  but  its  leaders  had  energy,  devotion,  self- 
sacrifice  and,  as  the  spring  of  these,  that  divine  faith 
which  worketh  under  the  impulse  and  channel  of  love. 
They  were  prompted  by  zeal  for  the  Redeemer's  king- 
dom. They  were  animated  by  the  spirit  of  brotherly 
love,  while  harmony  of  aim  and  counsel  enabled  them 
to  move  as  a  unit.  And  they  went  forward,  conscious 
of  the  spiritual  power  inherent  in  the  Church,  confi- 
dent of  the  smile  of  heaven  upon  their  endeavors,  and 
expecting  the  happiest  results. 

To  furnish  suitable  candidates  for  the  nascent 
Seminary  a  classical  school  was  at  once  opened  at 
Gettysburg.       It  was   intended   primarily  "to   enable 


Formation  of  the  General  Synod.  349 

persons  of  slender  means  or  advanced  years  to  secure 
the  most  useful  and  necessary  preparatory  studies," 
and  to  afford  an  opportunity  for  others  "  to  be  pre- 
pared for  entrance  into  the  different  colleges  of  our 
country."  But  it  prospered  so  rapidly  that  in  a  few- 
years  it  grew  into  Pennsylvania  College,  and  Lu- 
theran students  could  complete  the  curriculum  of 
study  in  an  institution  of  their  own  Church. 

The  machinery  of  instruction  being  provided, 
measures  were  taken  to  secure  the  proper  subjects 
and  the  means  for  their  support.  The  Church  must 
share  the  pecuniary  burden  contracted  in  acquiring  a 
thorough  education  for  her  clergy.  Educational 
associations,  "  Ladies  Mite  Societies,"  sewing  societies, 
and  other  agencies  for  gathering  funds  were  accord- 
ingly instituted  in  numerous  congregations.  The 
Maryland  Synod,  in  its  annual  report,  October  1831, 
attests  its  "gratitude  to  the  ladies  of  the  Lutheran 
churches  at  Frederick,  Taneytown,  Shepherdstown  and 
Baltimore,  who  by  the  labor  of  their  hands  jointly 
contributed  the  sum  of  $582.31." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  General  Synod,  in  York,  1835, 
the  organization  of  a  General  Educational  Society 
was  effected,  officers  were  elected  and  directors  ap- 
pointed not  only  from  the  General  Synod,  but  also 
from  the  Synods  of  Ohio,  Pennsylvania  and  New 
York,  the  co-operation  of  all  being  contemplated. 
After  the  trial  of  various  methods  in  the  administra- 
tion of  this  cause,  the  district  synods  in  1855  respect- 
ively assumed  entire  charge  of  it,  leaving  the  Parent 
Education  Society  to  depend  on  legacies  and  special 
donations   for  its    peculiar  sphere.     This  beneficiary 


35°  The  Lutherans  211  America. 

expedient  for  supplying  the  ever-increasing  needs  of 
the  Church  has  been  of  incomparable  service.  With- 
out the  beneficiaries  hundreds  of  congregations  must 
have  died  for  want  of  spiritual  sustenance.  The 
twenty  years  of  active  operations  by  the  parent  society 
gave  the  Church  some  two  hundred  pastors.  Many 
of  these  have  occupied  the  most  important  positions 
in  the  Church.  Four  became  presidents  of  colleges, 
one  a  professor  of  theology,  while  many  were  called 
to  the  largest  and  most  intelligent  conoreeations. 

There  was  no  difficulty  in  finding  proper  employ- 
ment for  the  newly  equipped  ministerial  recruits. 
When  the  air  is  surcharged  with  missionary  fire  men 
with  tongues  of  flame  are  sure  to  find  places  where 
they  may  give  utterance  to  the  glad  tidings.  The  first 
graduates  showed  what  spirit  was  in  them  as  they  went 
"where  the  destitution  was  greatest  and  the  cry  for 
ministerial  supply  most  urgent."  The  tides  of  emi- 
gration had  begun  to  sweep  away  thousands  from  the 
older  congregations  in  the  east,  and  the  Church  like  a 
faithful  mother  was  yearning  after  them,  recognizing 
at  the  same  time  in  their  destitution  her  golden  oppor- 
tunity for  the  extension  of  her  blessings  and  the  ad- 
vancement of  her  influence.  The  General  Synod  being 
composed  of  delegates  representing  the  widely  sepa- 
rated and  remote  sections  of  the  Church  became  the 
medium  of  intelligence  concerning  the  extent  and 
necessities  of  the  field,  and  through  it  the  cry  for  spir- 
itual assistance  was  clearly  heard  by  all  the  congrega- 
tions, and  the  burden  of  their  scattered  brethren  laid 
on  their  heart,  while  mutual  consultation,  unity  of  aim 


352  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

and  concert  of  effort  rendered  efficient  acti  jn  practi- 
cable and  certain. 

The  living  spirit  is  sure  to  seek  embodiment  and  to 
strive  after  formal  organization,  by  which  alone  it  can 
find  a  proper  and  effective  exercise  for  its  powers. 
Missonary  societies  were  formed  in  many  congrega- 
tions and  by  all  the  synods,  the  General  Synod  for 
some  years  giving  simply  its  moral  support  and  en- 
couragement to  the  synodical  societies.  In  Balti- 
more, 1833,  it  appointed  a  standing  Committee  on 
Missions,  whose  immediate  province  was  to  gather 
and  report  information.  At  York,  in  1835,  it  adopted 
a  lengthy  and  ringing  report  declaring  that  "  more 
must  be  done  if  the  frowns  of  Heaven  are  not  to  rest 
upon  our  churches,"  and  urging  that  "the  destitute 
parts  of  our  country  must  be  supplied  with  the  Gos- 
pel, and  as  soon  as  possible  our  hands  must  be  exten- 
ded to  the  heathen."  The  more  men  felt  the  need  of 
supplying  our  own  rapidly-extending  country  the  more 
the  claims  of  the  heathen  world  pressed  upon  them. 
A  mass  meeting  in  the  interests  of  Home  Missions 
was  called  at  Mechanicsburg  the  following  year. 

At  Hagerstown  in  1837  the  General  Synod  cordially 
endorsed  a  convention,  held  at  that  time  and  place, 
for  the  organization  of  a  Foreign  Mission  Society, 
adjourning  its  own  sessions  from  time  to  time  to 
allow  its  members  to  participate  in  this  convention, 
which  was  composed  of  delegates  representing  churches 
without  as  well  as  within  the  pale  of  the  General 
Synod.  Revs.  H.  N.  Pohlman,  W.  D.  Strobel  and 
others  were  in  attendance  from  New  York,  Revs.  J. 
Medtart,    C.   W.    Schaeffer    and     Dr.    F.    W.  Heckel 


Formation  of  the  General  Synod.  353 

appeared  as  delegates  from  the  Missionary  Society 
of  the  Old  Synod,  besides  other  clerical  and  lay  mem- 
bers of  that  body,  charged  to  assure  the  convention 
of  their  co-operation.  During  the  same  convention 
the  Central  Home  Missionary  Society  held  its  first  an- 
niversary, these  different  associations,  though  distinct 
from  the  General  Synod,  realizing  their  dependence 
upon  it  for  moral  support,  while  they  widened  its 
sphere  and  stimulated  its  activity. 

The  Church  took  also  a  lively  interest  in  Sunday 
Schools  which  at  this  period  were  coming  into  vogue. 
One  of  the  first  societies  organized  under  the  impulses 
of  the  General  Synod  was  a  Lutheran  Sunday-school 
Union,  which  was  founded  in  1829  and  for  some  time 
held  its  anniversaries  in  connection  with  the  meetings 
of  the  General  Synod.  Flourishing  schools  sprang 
up  in  a  number  of  congregations  and  the  foundations 
were  laid  for  that  successful  Sunday-school  work  which 
has  been  a  prominent  characteristic   of  Lutheranism. 

The  publication  of  a  suitable  and  necessary  church 
literature  was  undertaken.  Church  periodicals  were 
established.  An  English  Hymn-book,  based  on  that 
of  the  Synod  of  New  York  was  published,  also  a 
Liturgy  based  on  the  German  Agenda  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Synod,  a  Collection  of  Prayers  and  an  Eng- 
lish Catechism.  A  Lutheran  Book  Company  began 
business  in  Baltimore  in  1836.  A  cordial  and  general 
support  was  at  the  same  time  rendered  to  the  unde- 
nominational Bible  and  Tract  Societies,  and  Lutheran 
ministers  and  people  co-operated  largely  with  organi- 
zations to  counteract  the  evils  of  intemperance. 

While  a  large  proportion  of  these  beneficent  move- 


354 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


ments  originated  directly  with  the  General  Synod, 
that  body  sounding  the  keynote  and  the  district 
synods  re-echoing  the  strain  until  it  was  heard  on 
the  very  borders  of  Zion,  the  general  body  was  in 
other  cases  but  the  exponent  of  the  prevalent  feeling, 
registering  and  voicing  the  spirit  of  the  congregations, 
o-ivins-  it  direction  and  momentum.  Whether  a  move- 
ment  proceeded  from  its  bosom  or  came  to  it  from  its 
constituencies,  the  General  Synod  was  the  grand  in- 
strument for  marshaling  the  various  elements,  offer- 
ing one  rallying  point  instead  of  many,  and  promot- 
ing a  '•  united  policy."  No  one  acquainted  with  the 
history  of  that  period  will  deny  to  it  the  honor  of 
being  either  the  prime  originator  or  the  principal 
supporter  of  all  the  enlightened  measures  then  put 
forth  for  building  up  the  interests  and  fulfilling  the 
mission  of  the  Church.  For  half  a  century  it  was  the 
most  conspicuous  and  the  most  influential  factor  in 
advancing  her  usefulness  and  her  glory. 

Symptoms  of  renewed  spiritual  life  attested  every- 
where the  presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  pulpit 
was  marked  by  peculiar  earnestness  and  pastors  ex- 
celled in  self-sacrificing  fidelity  in  the  catechism  class 
and  in  house  to  house  visitation.  The  congregations 
experienced  "an  increased  degree  of  spirituality,"  so 
that  they  "abounded  in  lives  of  prayer,  of  faith  and 
love,  of  pious  deeds  and  of  zeal  for  Christ,"  and  real- 
ized their  mission  to  spread  the  Gospel  and  to  exer- 
cise the  grace  of  giving  in  the  support  of  "all  benevo- 
lent institutions."  The  pastoral  address  issued  by  the 
General  Synod  in  1831  affirms:  "Education  and  Mis- 
sionary Societies   are   increasing,  and  we  know  of  no 


Formation  of  the   General  Synod.  355 

benevolent  institution  in  our  country,  that  does  not 
number  among  its  patrons  some  of  our  most  devoted 
members."  The  Synod  of  South  Carolina  number- 
ing but  thirteen  pastors  reported  in  1836  the  sum  of 
$1,660.60  for  missions  and  education,  the  West  Pennsyl- 
vania Synod  $769.91  for  the  same  year,  and  the  Hart- 
wick  Synod  with  fifteen  ministers  gave  $1,467.83  in 
two  years.  "Prayer  meetings  conducted  according  to 
the  Scriptures  were  numerous,"  and  viewed  as  "a 
great  blessing  to  many  souls  on  the  brink  of  eternal 
ruin."  Students  for  the  ministry  multiplied  in  a 
rapid  ratio. 

So  far  from  being  exhausted  by  the  founding  of 
one  seminary  or  the  support  of  one  professorship,  the 
interest  in  theological  education  kept  increasing  and 
led  to  the  undertaking  of  a  second  professorship  at 
Gettysburg  in  1829.  A  collecting  tour  of  Professor 
Schmucker  through  the  north  yielded  the  large  sum 
of  $14,917,  collected  mostly  from  Congregationalists 
through  the  active  co-operation  of  Professor  Stuart. 

The  proposal  of  the  Board  to  call  the  second  pro- 
fessor from  the  ranks  of  Lutheran  theologians  in  Ger- 
many met  with  unexpected  opposition  from  the  Old 
Synod  "because  an  European  could  not  so  well  ac- 
commodate himself  to  the  peculiar  views  and  situa- 
tion of  our  ecclesiastical  and  civil  institutions."  The 
choice  fell  on  Dr.  Hazelius  who  in  1830  was  made 
Professor  of  Biblical  and  Oriental  Literature  and  the 
German  Language.  The  library,  numbering  six  thou- 
sand volumes,  was  at  that  time  the  largest  theological 
library  in  the  country. 

Hartwick    Seminary   also   attained  a   prosperity   it 


356  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

had  never  enjoyed,  and  before  the  surrender  of  its 
honored  professor  to  Gettysburg,  called  as  his 
assistant  Rev.  G.  B.  Miller,  who  for  many  years  filled 
this  position  with  great  usefulness.  At  the  same  time 
a  cheerino-  support  was  given  to  the  seminary  at 
Lexington,  founded  by  the  Synod  of  South  Carolina, 
and  that  of  the  Synod  of  Ohio,  established  at  Colum- 
bus. 

The  relation  of  the  General  Synod  to  this  advance- 
ment of  the  Church  is  well  set  forth  in  the  pastoral 
letter  which  it  addressed  to  the  churches  in  1835. 
"Will  it  be  too  much  to  say  that  since  1820  this 
Synod  has  been  a  means  under  God  of  greatly  reviv- 
ing our  American  churches ;  spreading  abroad  the 
spirit  of  reformation  ;  firing  with  new  zeal  ministers 
and  laymen  ;  elevating  the  standard  of  piety  among 
us ;  diffusing  a  spirit  of  benevolence  among  our 
people ;  furnishing,  by  means  of  her  seminaries  min- 
isters for  congregations  ready  to  perish,  and  through 
the  medium  of  her  publications,  bread  to  those  starv- 
ing." When  this  body  had  been  but  ten  years  in  ex- 
istence its  members  could  testify  before  angels  and 
men:  "The  temporal  and  spiritual,  the.  external  and 
internal  concerns  of  our  Zion  have  been  advanced 
with  unparalleled  success."  These  pastoral  letters 
show  how  the  brethren  were  cheered  by  the  rapid 
spread  of  the  Church  in  every  quarter,  how  they  more 
than  realized  their  brightest  anticipations,  and  how 
these  happy  results  enforced  upon  their  conscience  the 
duty  of  the  hour.  A  noble  Christian  optimism  shines 
through  the  review  of  the  situation  which  they  were 
wont  to  publish  after  each  meeting.     With  what  joy 


.. 


REV.     CHARLES    A.    STORK,   I>.    D 


Formation  of  the  General  Synod.  357 

they  speak  of  the  increasing  extent  and  rising  impor- 
tance of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church.  "Since  the 
establishment  of  the  General  Synod,  God  has  favored 
us  with  many  glorious  manifestations  of  God's  power 
and  grace." 

They  deemed  it  just  to  judge  of  results  by  what  had 
been   in  former  days.     Comparisons  were  drawn    be- 
tween the  state  of  the  Church   "ready  to  sink  into  in- 
significance"  at  that  critical  juncture  when  the  Gen- 
eral Synod  was  founded,  and  "  the  favorable  and  cheer- 
ing results  which  in  a  few  years  were  reported  from  all 
sections."     "  Our  Synods,  and  the  General   Synod    as 
well   as  the   churches,  enjoy  an  amount  of  the   public 
confidence  and  esteem  which  must  satisfy  and  encour- 
age greatly  every  Lutheran."     The  only  drawback  to 
the  rapid  expansion  of  the  Church  was  again  as  always 
an  inadequate  army  of  ministers.     Many  of  the  most 
inviting  points  could   not  be  occupied,  and  so  great 
were  the  labors   and  exposures  of  many  pastors   that 
often   their   strength  was   prematurely   exhausted.      It 
was  a  sad   reflection   made   at  York  in  1835  that  with 
"two  hundred  and  twenty  laborers  among  eight  hun- 
dred congregations,  not  a  few  have  entered  premature 
graves."     Of  others   it  was  said  that  as  the  result  of 
overwork  "they  bear  evident  marks  of  a  wastino-  con- 
stitution and  of  a  dissolution  not  far  off." 

While  the  revived  prosperity  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  is  doubtless  largely  to  be  ascribed  to  the 
formation  of  the  General  Synod,  it  was  not  confined 
to  the  synods  organically  incorporated  with  it.  The 
activity  and  advance  of  those  not  associated  with  it 
were,   however,   directly    or    indirectly  stimulated   by 


358  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

the  general  body,  whose  paramount  influence  in  de- 
termining the  character  and  advancing  the  interests 
of  the  native  Lutheran  Church  is  not  likely  to  be 
gainsayed. 

The  Pennsylvania  Synod  was  permeated  by  the 
same  spirit  and  developed  along  the  same  lines. 
Bonds  of  strong  and  conspicuous  sympathy  kept  it  in 
practical  co-operation  with  the  measures  of  the  Gen- 
eral Synod.  The  majority  of  its  ministers  heartily 
united  with  the  latter  in  Missionary,  Education  and 
Sunday-school  work  and  "in  the  preparation  of  a  uni- 
form liturgy  for  the  use  of  the  Church."  Its  congre- 
gations contributed  freely  to  the  support  of  the  semi- 
nary at  Gettysburg  and  a  large  proportion  of  its  young 
men  were  sent  to  study  in  its  halls. 

Dr.  S.  S.  Schmucker  in  his  "Retrospect  of  Luther- 
anism  "  testifies:  "Much  mio-ht  be  said  of  the  honor- 
able  manner  in  which  the  greater  part  of  the  brethren 
and  churches  in  East  Pennsylvania,  and  elsewhere, 
whilst  yielding  to  the  prejudices  of  the  weaker  mem- 
bers, yet  continued  to  afford  their  substantial  and  in- 
creasing aid  to  every  good  work  undertaken  by  this 
Synod,  so  that  much  of  the  credit  for  what  has  been 
achieved,  is  justly  due  to  their  co-operation."  And 
Dr.  C.  P.  Krauth,  Jr.,  in  an  editorial  in  the  Lutheran 
and  Missio7iary,  May  3,  1866,  says:  "The  relations  of 
that  Synod  to  the  General  Synod  were  never  antag- 
onistic or  unfriendly.  *  *  *  Throughout  there 
was  a  majority  of  her  ministers  favorable  to  active 
co-operation  with  the  General  Synod."  But  they  for- 
bearingly  deferred  for  the  time  to  the  reactionary 
minority  which  opposed   Bible  Societies,  Theological 


Formation  of  the  General  Synod.  359 

Seminaries,  Missionary  and  Sunday-school  Associa- 
tions and  in  short  all  organized  forms  of  Christian 
activity. 

Assurances  of  "undiminished  affection"  for  the 
brethren  of  that  body  were  repeatedly  expressed  by 
the  General  Synod,  confident  of  "  the  ardent  attach- 
ment" which  many  in  that  body  bore  to  it.  In  the 
minutes  of  1827  it  rejoices  that  "this  Synod  continues 
to  be  in  a  prosperous  condition,  and  some  churches 
in  its  bounds  have  been  visited  with  peculiar  seasons  of 
refreshment." 

The  desire  for  the  return  of  this  body  "to  that  union 
in  the  establishment  of  which  they  sustained  a  princi- 
pal part  and  which  will  remain  to  after  ages  a  monu- 
ment of  their  zeal  for  the  cause  of  God,"  was  fre- 
quently voiced  by  the  General  Synod.  Reviewing 
"the  harmony,  unanimity  and  evangelical  zeal"  which 
animated  the  brethren  of  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania, 
they  longed  for  the  day  when  they  should  see  them 
"unite  their  counsels  and  energies  with  ours."  In  the 
Old  Synod  also,  the  matter  of  reuniting  with  the 
General  Synod  was  from  time  to  time  agitated,  espec- 
ially in  1839  and  1840,  but  the  apprehensions  and 
prejudices  which  led  to  the  withdrawal  in  1823  were 
found  to  be  still  smouldering.  They  were  readily 
inflamed  by  the  prevalence  of  the  English  language  in 
the  General  Synod  and  the  popularity  of  the  "new 
measures"  within  its  bounds.  Final  action  was  there- 
fore deferred  on  the  plea  that  "  the  time  had  not  come." 
The  consummation  so  long  devoutly  cherished  by  many 
on  both  sides  was  at  last  realized  in  1853,  when  seven 
pastors  and  seven  lay-delagates  appeared  as  represent- 


360  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

atives  of  that  body  and  were  welcomed  with  great  joy 
at  the  meeting  of  the  General  Synod  at  Winchester, 
Va.  Two  years  previously  the  Synod  had  endowed  a 
German  Professorship  in  Pennsylvania  College.  The 
incumbent  of  this  chair  was  likewise  to  give  instruc- 
tion in  the  Theological  Seminary. 

The  New  York  Synod,  which  had  taken  an  honor- 
able part  in  the  founding  of  the  General  Synod,  came 
into  organic  relations  with  it  in  1837.  The  Ohio 
Synod  after  having  a  representation  at  one  meeting, 
stood  aloof,  yet  its  missionary  zeal  is  often  lauded 
in  the  proceedings  of  the  General  Synod.  No  antag- 
onism had  as  yet  developed,  and  delegates  to  this 
body  as  well  as  to  the  Synods  of  Pennsylvania  and 
N.ew  York,  were  appointed  by  the  General  Synod  as 
late  as  1829. 

One  of  the  most  conspicuous  features  of  the  General 
Synod  was  its  conciliatory  attitude  toward  synods  not 
in  its  connection.  It  not  only  sought  their  counsels 
and  energies  to  be  united  with  it,  but  as  their  approval 
of  its  doctrinal  character,  its  general  spirit  and  grand 
aims,  was  well  known,  it  avowed  its  readiness  to  make 
any  concessions  "  consistent  with  the  grand  design  of 
the  association,"  in  order  "to  conciliate  all  minds 
and  afford  full  and  oreneral  satisfaction." 

It  soueht  to  embrace  the  whole  church.  And  as  it 
brought  together  a  large  proportion  of  the  most  intel- 
ligent and  influential  clerical  and  lay  representatives 
from  remote  sections,  joined  them  into  a  family  of 
brethren,  ascertained  from  them  the  interests  and 
needs  of  the  whole  church,  inspired  mutual  confidence, 
and  provoked,  one  another  to  good  works,  it  was  in- 


Formation  of  the  General  Synod.  361 

strumental  in  developing  a  consciousness  of  strength, 
awakening  a  sense  of  responsibility,  and  engendering 
a  fellow  feeling.  It  united  the  wisdom,  piety,  ability 
and  energy  of  the  Church,  north,  east,  south  and  west, 
and  by  the  concentration  of  all  her  resources  for  ob- 
jects to  which  no  individual  synod  could  have  been 
competent,  it  was  able  to  provide  in  large  measure 
for  the  wants  and  prosperity  of  the  whole  Church. 

A  warm  spiritual  life  coursing  through  all  the 
arteries  of  Christ's  body,  and  wise  leaders  directing 
it,  there  was  a  rapid  expansion  of  the  Church's  bor- 
ders as  well  as  of  her  influence  and  power.  Follow- 
ing the  steady  flow  of  population,  missionaries  organ- 
ized new  congregations  on  the  territory  now  embraced 
in  Kentucky,  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Missouri.  These, 
though  widely  scattered,  were  united  into  a  new  synod 
in  1835,  under  the  title  of  the  Synod  of  the  West. 
Among  its  founders  were  Revs.  William  Jenkins, 
Daniel  Scherer  and  Abraham  Reck.  In  a  few  years 
it  numbered  twenty-three  ministers — to-day  more  than 
a  thousand  Lutheran  ministers  preach  in  those  parts 
— and  in  1840  it  united  with  the  General  Synod. 
The  following  year  the  English  district  of  Ohio,  now 
the  East  Ohio  Synod,  did  the  same.  The  Synod  of 
South  Carolina  united  in  1835,  that  of  Virginia  in 
1839.  The  Synod  of  East  Pennsylvania,  whose  organ- 
ization on  the  territory  of  the  mother  synod  in  1842 
is  to  be  ascribed  largely  to  the  increasing  demand  for 
English  services  and  for  the  progressive  measures 
then  commonly  associated  with  English,  united  in 
1843,  and  with  it  the  Allegheny  and  Southwest 
Virginia  Synods  ;  the  Miami  Synod  in   1845,  tne  HM- 


362  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

nois  and  Wittenberg  in  1848,  the  Olive  Branch  in 
1850,  the  Texas,  Northern  Illinois  and  Pittsburg 
Synods  in  1853,  the  Kentucky,  Central  Pennsylvania 
and  English  District  of  Ohio  (the  second  English 
District  of  the  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio)  in  1855,  the 
Northern  Indiana,  Southern  Illinois  and  English 
Iowa  in  1857,  the  Melanchthon  in  1859. 

The  maximum  of  the  General  Synod's  growth  was 
reached  in  the  year  i860,  when  it  embraced  26  synods 
spread  over  almost  the  entire  territory  of  the  Union, 
all  the  synods  in  fact  which  comprised  to  any  extent 
the  native  Lutheran  population,  except  that  of  the 
Joint-Ohio  and  the  Tennessee,  aggregating  864  out 
of  1 3 1 3  ministers,  and  164,000  out  of  245,000  communi- 
cants, i.  e.  two-thirds  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this 
country. 

The  out-break  of  the  civil  war  caused  the  with- 
drawal of  the  synods  south  of  the  Potomac,  with  a 
total  of  125  ministers,  205  congregations,  and  21,098 
communicants. 

A  rupture  more  serious  in  character  and  more  far- 
reaching  in  consequences  was  soon  to  be  experienced. 
At  the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  General  Synod 
confessional  laxity  had  deeply  penetrated  the  life  of 
the  Lutheran  Church,  although  a  stricter  and  conser- 
vative element  also  remained.  Both  tendencies  came 
into  the  general  body  and  continued  for  many  years 
side  by  side  without  any  sharp  antagonism  or  con- 
flict. "  It  embraced  elements,"  says  Dr.  C.  P.  Krauth, 
"  which  were  distinctively  Lutheran  and  others  dis- 
tinctively Latitudinarian.  The  first  party  was  on  the 
whole  more  Lutheran  in  doctrine  and  more  active  in 


Formation  of  tJie  General  Synod.  363 

piety  than  the  second.  Their  relatively  higher  Lu- 
theranism  was  connected  with  a  relatively  higher 
spirituality  and  aggressiveness.  Though  they  had  so 
far  felt  the  evil  tendency  of  the  times  that  they  fell 
far  below  the  doctrinal  decision  and  consistent  Lu- 
theranism  of  Muhlenberg  and  his  co-laborers,  yet  they 
were  relatively  decided,  relatively  Lutheran,  and  their 
Lutheranism  had  something  of  the  ardor  and  earnest- 
ness  of  that  earlier  time.  It  was  their  desire  to  make 
the  General  Synod  as  strong  in  government  and  as 
Lutheran  in  doctrine  as  they  possibly  could.  The 
more  decided  Lutheran  influence  prevailed  and  the 
friends  of  the  laxer  tendencies  dropped  off  from  the 
General  Synod."  Dr.  K.  gives  this  as  indubitably  in 
part,  the  philosophy  of  "  the  tacit  withdrawal  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Synod." 

"  While  it  guarded  against  taking  a  position  which 
would  necessarily  exclude  the  laxer  elements,  the  Gen- 
eral Synod  always  maintained  that  the  strictest  Lu- 
therans could  conscientiously  unite  with  it  and  that 
their  objections  on  the  score  of  laxity  were  un- 
grounded." The  Tennessee  Synod  gave  indeed  a 
more  pronounced  adhesion  to  the  Confessions  than 
the  General  Synod,  "whose  constitution  shows  only 
too  many  sad  traces  of  the  embarrassments  of  the 
period,"  yet  upon  its  subsequent  acknowledgment  of 
the  doctrinal  articles  of  the  Augsburg  Confession  as  a 
standard  of  faith,  "it  was  the  only  voluntary  body  on 
earth,  pretending  to  embrace  a  nation  as  its  territory 
and  bearing  a  Lutheran  name,  in  which  the  fundamen- 
tal doctrines  of  Lutheranism  were  the  basis  of  a 
union."     Such  is  the  testimony  of  the  ablest  mind   the 


364  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

Church  has  produced  in  America,  when  speaking  of 
the  formation  of  the  General  Synod.  The  two  ten- 
dencies dwelling  in  one  body  must  inevitably  develop 
their  inherent  nature,  and  their  antagonistic  character. 
So  strong,  however  was  the  desire  for  unity  and  so 
paramount  the  spirit  of  conciliation  that  a  sharp  col- 
lision was  for  a  long  time  averted.  The  conservative 
element  sought  more  and  more  to  revive  the  princi- 
ples of  historic  Lutheranism,  which  had  fallen  into 
desuetude  under  the  rationalistic  sway  of  the  previous 
period.  It  studied  with  ardor  the  confessions  of  the 
Church,  brought  once  more  to  light  its  devotional 
treasures,  and  endeavored  to  foster  the  Lutheran  type 
of  Christianity  by  returning  to  "the  good  old  ways  of 
the  fathers."  Others  were  so  carried  away  with  the 
ideal  of  the  American  type  of  religion  that  they 
fancied  the  only  way  to  get  the  warmth  of  Methodism 
and  the  vigor  of  Presbyterianism  was,  as  Dr.  C.  A. 
Stork  put  it,  "to  disembowel  their  own  Church  of 
heart  and  lun»;s." 

A  few  leading  representatives  of  this  element  pro- 
gressed to  the  point  of  publishing  (anonymously)  in 
1855  an  "  American  Recension  of  the  Augsburg  Con- 
fession," from  which  they  omitted  certain  alleged 
"  errors  contained  in  the  Confession,"  Baptismal  Re- 
generation and  the  Real  Presence  of  the  Body  and 
Blood  of  the  Savior  in  the  Eucharist  being  designa- 
ted among  others.  Its  appearance  raised  a  storm 
throughout  the  Church.  "  Extremely  unlutheran,  un- 
churchly  and  even  rationalistic  positions  were  as- 
sumed "  by  some  who  defended  the  "  Platform,"  says 
Dr.  Morris  in  his  "  Fifty  Years  in  the  Lutheran  Minis- 


Formation  of  the  General  Synod.  365 

try."  On  the  other  hand  it  was  indignantly  and 
universally  rejected  by  the  Eastern  Synods,  their  judg- 
ment being  well  expressed  in  the  resolution  prepared 
by  Dr.  J.  A.  Brown  and  adopted  unanimously  by  the 
Synod  of  East  Pennsylvania  which  denounced  it  as  a 
"most  dangerous  attempt  to  change  the  doctrinal 
basis  and  revolutionize  the  existing  character  of  the 
Lutheran  Churches  now  united  in  the  General 
Synod." 

The  opposition  to  this  onslaught  on  the  Confession 
was  so  decided  and  overwhelming  that  the  authors  of 
it,  though  men  of  prominence  and  ability,  at  once  lost 
their  prestige,  and  the  subject  was  never  so  much  as 
mooted  in  the  General  Synod.  But  it  became  a 
touch-stone  for  the  trial  and  rapid  development  of 
the  two  tendencies,  and  the  agitation  which  followed 
awakened  grave  fears  of  an  ultimate  disruption.  A 
few  years  later  at  York,  1864,  the  General  Synod  ex- 
plicity  repudiated  the  charge  that  the  alleged  errors 
were  contained  in  the  Confession,  and  "before  God 
and  his  Church"  declared  that  the  Augsburg  Con- 
fession, "properly  interpreted,  is  in  perfect  consist- 
ence with  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  regards  the  errors 
specified." 

At  the  same  convention  it  so  amended  its  consti- 
tution as  to  require  all  synods  seeking  connection 
with  it  "to  receive  and  hold  the  Augsburg  Confession 
as  a  correct  exhibition  of  the  fundamental  doctrines 
of  the  Divine  Word  and  of  the  faith  of  our  Church 
founded  on  that  Word."  By  this  doctrinal  basis  im- 
posed on  the  District  Synods  as  a  condition  of  union 
with  it,  and  the  previous  adoption  of  Luther's  Cate- 


0 


66  The  Lutherans  in  America. 


chism  "without  qualification,"  and  the  definition  of 
fundamentals  in  the  Liturgy  of  1847,  it  is  the  testi- 
mony of  Dr.  C.  P.  Krauth,  Jr.,  "the  General  Synod's 
Lutheran  soundness  is  fully  vindicated."  "  These  tes- 
timonials," he  maintained  "are  its  real  basis,  official 
statements,  back  of  which  no  man  has  a  rioht  to  a-o." 
The  growing-  ascendency  of  positive  Lutheranism 
stimulated  the  antagonism  of  the  laxer  element.  Vio- 
lent  discussions   and   agitations   ensued,    which    were 


MISSIONARY  INSTITUTE,  SELIN'S  GROVE,   PA. 

heightened  by  complaints  of  doctrinal  unsoundness 
and  neglect  of  the  German  interest  at  Gettysburg. 
The  heart  of  the  body  had  become  exceedingly  sensi- 
tive. The  tension  between  opposing  principles  had 
reached  a  degree  which  made  a  break  imminent  on 
the  slightest  disturbance. 

The  crisis  was  reached  in  1864,  at  York,  when  the 
Franckean  Synod  applied  for  admission.  This  body 
had  been  charged  with  serious  defection  from  Lu- 
theran  doctrine,  had  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  stood 
aloof  from  the  General  Synod,  and  had  not  given  any 


Formation  of  the  Ge7ieral  Synod.  367 

recognition  to  the  Augsburg  Confession.  Its  appli- 
cation was  accordingly  rejected,  until  it  should  for- 
mally adopt  the  Confession  as  received  by  the  Gen- 
eral Synod. 

The  Franckean  deputies  felt  aggrieved  by  this  ex- 
clusion. They  urged  that  "in  adopting  the  constitu- 
tion of  that  body,  the  members  of  the  Franckean  Synod 
fully  understood  that  they  were  adopting  the  doc- 
trinal position  of  the  General  Synod."  Their  friends 
on  this  representation  were  able  to  call  for  a  recon- 
sideration, which  after  an  earnest  and  protracted  dis- 
cussion resulted  in  receiving  them  by  a  vote  of  ninety- 
seven  to  forty,  with  the  understanding  that  their 
Synod,  at  its  next  meeting,  declare  in  an  official  man- 
ner, its  adoption  of  the  doctrinal  articles  of  the  Augs- 
burg Confession,  as  a  substantially  correct  exhibition 
of  the  fundamental  docrines  of  the  Word  of  God. 

The  minority  entered  a  protest,  expressing  deep 
grief  "that  by  this  action  of  the  General  Synod  its 
constitution  has  been  sadly  and  lamentably  violated." 
The  delegation  of  the  Pennsylvania  Synod  further 
presented  a  paper,  recalling  that  their  Synod  had  re- 
newed organic  relations,  with  the  reservation  that 
should  the  General  Synod  violate  its  constitution, 
and  require  assent  to  anything  conflicting  with  the  old 
and  loner  established  faith  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 

o  o 

Church,  its  delegates  shall  protest  against  such  action, 
withdraw  from  its  sessions  and  report  to  their  body, 
and  declaring  their  purpose  "to  withdraw  from  the 
sessions  of  the  General  Synod,  in  order  to  report  to 
the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania  at  its  approaching  con- 
vention." 


368  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

The  vote  for  the  admission  of  the  Franckean  Synod 
was  by  no  means  entirely  on  confessional  lines.  Many 
who  gave  their  voice  in  favor  of  it  regarded  the  adop- 
tion of  the  constitution  of  the  General  Synod  by  that 
body,  a  virtual  adoption  of  the  Augsburg  Confession, 
and  held  that  their  promise  to  adopt  it  formally 
at  their  next  regular  session  was  evidence  of  their 
good  faith. 

The  withdrawal  of  the  Pennsylvania  delegation  was 
unanimously  approved  by  that  Synod  at  its  next  con- 
vention. Nevertheless  it  adopted  the  constitutional 
amendments  which  had  been  sent  down  to  it,  as  to  the 
othe  synods,  and  the  following  year  chose  a  full  dele- 
gation to  the  General  Synod  at  its  meeting  at  Fort 
Wayne,  but  in  the  organization  of  that  body  the  chair 
ruled  that  that  Synod  must  be  considered  "in  a  state 
of  practical  withdrawal  from  the  governing  functions 
of  the  General  Synod,"  and  that  consequently  its 
delegation  could  not  be  received  until  after  the  organ- 
ization  of  the  convention. 

Three  days'  discussion  of  the  question  followed  this 
parliamentary  ruling,  the  members  of  the  Pennsylva- 
nia delegation  participating.  They  were  subsequently 
requested  by  resolution  "to  waive  what  may  seem  to 
them  an  irregular  organization  of  this  Body,  and  to 
acquiesce  in  the  present  organization."  Their  re- 
sponse to  this  was,  that  if  "this  Body  shall  now  declare 
that  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania  had,  as  it  claimed  to 
have,  the  constitutional  right  to  be  represented  before 
the  election  of  officers,  and  to  take  part  in  it,  we  are 
perfectly  willing  to  waive  the  right  of  voting,  will  ac- 
quiesce in  the  present  organization,  and  will  take  our 


Formal  ion  of  the   General  Synod.  369 

seats  in  this  Body,  equals  among"  equals."  The  reply 
of  the  majority  that  "they  could  not  conscientiously 
recede"  from  their  action,  and  a  protest  from  the  mi- 
nority, closed  the  conflict  on  the  floor  of  the  Synod. 

The  die  was  cast.  The  prospect  of  a  general 
Evangelical  Lutheran  organization  in  this  country 
was  dispelled.  At  its  next  convention  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Synod  formally  severed  its  relations  with  the 
General  Synod.  The  Ministerium  of  New  York  fol- 
lowed, at  the  cost  of  a  schism  in  its  own  constituency, 
nearly  all  its  English  churches  and  pastors  adher- 
ing to  the  General  Synod.  The  Pittsburg  Synod  also 
withdrew  and  experienced  a  rupture.  The  English 
Ohio,  the  Minnesota  and  the  Texas  Synods  took  the 
same  course,  and  the  Synod  of  Illinois  was  disbanded, 
to  be  reorganized  on  the  lines  along  which  the  whole 
Church,  including  not  a  few  individual  congregations, 
was  being  rent  asunder. 

Shortly  after  the  unhappy  dissensions  at  York  in 
1864,  Rev.  James  A.  Brown,  D.  D.,  succeeded  Dr.  S.  S. 
Schmucker  as  Professor  of  Theology  in  the  Gettys- 
burg Seminary.  He  immediately  became  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  as  he  was  probably  the  ablest 
champion  of  the  General  Synod.  He  wielded  a  pow- 
erful pen,  was  skilled  in  polemics,  and  on  the  floor  of 
Synod,  in  particular,  was  such  a  master  in  debate  as 
to  bear  down  all  opposition.  He  had  been  wont  to 
affiliate  with  the  conservatives,  and  was  firmly  set 
against  certain  teaching  and  tendencies  of  their  an- 
tagonists.  He  had  inflicted  heavy  blows  on  the  "Defi- 
nite Platform  "and  other  deviations  from  sound  Lu- 
theranism,  and  was  wont  to  denounce  all  fanaticisms, 


370 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


and  but  for  the  unhappy  conflict  now  thrust  upon  the 
Church,  he  might  have  long  co-operated  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  Lutheran  Church  with  many  of 
those  who  left  the  General  Synod  ;  but  when  in  the 
progress  of  the  struggle  the  assaults  of  the  opposition 
were  directed  principally  against  the  Seminary  over 
which  he  presided  and  against  the  doctrinal  basis  of 
the  General    Synod,    he    contended    with    might   and 


MIDLAND  COLLEGE,  ATCHISON,   KANSAS. 

main  against  what  he   considered    the   revival   of  the 
"Old  Lutheran  theology." 

"  As  the  result  of  his  teachings,"  says  Dr.  Charles 
A.  Stork,  "there  went  forth  from  Gettysburg  a  suc- 
cession of  young  men  who  had  a  new  view  of  the  Lu- 
theran Church,  of  her  theology,  her  spirit  and  genius, 
and  of  the  work  she  had  to  do.  *  *  They  were 
learning  to  value  their  own  mother    Church,  and   her 


Formation  of  the  General  Synod.  37T 

rich  and  full  type  of  Christian  doctrine  and  life.  It 
is  true  our  young  men  did  not  know  Lutheran  theol- 
ogy thoroughly  ;  on  many  minor  points  they  were 
cloudy.  But  they  were  set  on  the  way  to  know  that 
theology.  They  had  a  belief  in  the  true  individuality 
and  value  of  her  type  of  life,  and  they  began  to  build 
the  walls  on  the  old  foundations.  For  much  of  this 
the  Church  of  to-day  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  Dr. 
Brown's  theological  work."  His  sudden  disability  by 
a  stroke  of  paralysis  in  the  prime  of  his  eminent  en- 
dowments, caused  universal  sorrow,  and  was  viewed, 
even  by  those  most  hostile  to  his  position,  as  a  great 
calamity. 

Since  the  division  in  1866  six  synods, several  of  them 
having  grown  up  in  the  west,  have  united  with  the 
General  Synod,  which  now  aggregates  23  synods,  997 
ministers,  1,364  congregations,  and  153,064  communi- 
cants. It  receives  and  holds  "with  the  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Church  of  our  fathers,  the  Word  of  God,  as 
contained  in  the  Canonical  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  as  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith 
and  practice,  and  the  Augsburg  Confession  as  a  cor- 
rect exhibition  of  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the 
Divine  Word,  and  of  the  faith  of  our  Church  founded 
upon  that  Word."  And  whatever  may  have  been 
the  case  in  the  past,  the  specific  doctrines  of  the 
Lutheran  Confessions  are  to-day  taught  explicitly 
and  ex  animo  in  all  the  theological  schools  connected 
with  the  General  Synod.  The  standard  reference 
book  in  each  of  them  is  Schmid's  Theology  of  the  Lu- 
theran Church. 


CHAPTER  XL 


THE    INDEPENDENT    SYNODS. 


THE  TENNESSEE  SYNOD. 


THE  very  year  which  brought  into  being  the  Gen- 
eral Synod  witnessed  also  the  organization  of 
the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Tennessee  Synod,  a 
body  which,  for  a  long  time,  was  its  only  antagonist. 
Whatever  other  causes  may  have  been  active  in  sepa- 
rating the  founders  of  this  body  from  the  Synod  of 
North  Carolina,  doctrinal  hostility,  both  to  that  body 
and  to  the  newly-formed  General  Synod  became  im- 
mediately prominent.  Rev.  Dr.  Bernheim  says  :  "Doc- 
trinal differences  were  at  first  not  very  apparent,  ex- 
cept on  the  ordination  question  ;  however  it  was  per- 
ceptible, as  early  as  1816,  that  everything  was  tending 
toward  a  disruption,  and  that  only  some  occasion  or 
circumstance  was  wanting  to  produce  it." 

The  occasion  was  offered  when  the  North  Carolina 
Synod,  in  order  to  send  a  representative  to  the  Penn- 
sylvania Synod  in  1819,  for  the  purpose  of  consider- 
ing the  project  of  a  General  Synod,  held  its  annual 
meeting  six  weeks  earlier  than  the  appointed  time. 
When  the  regular  time  arrived  on  Trinity  Sunday, 
Rev.  Philip  Henkel,  who  had  given  notice  that  he 
could  not  recognize  the  irregular  meeting,  his  brother, 
Rev.  David  Henkel,  a  catechist  of  the  synod,  and  Rev. 
Joseph  Bell,  a  candidate,  assembled  at  Organ  Church, 

372 


The  Independent  Synods.  373 

Rowan  county,  N.  C,  for  the  purpose  of  holding 
Synod.  The  two  latter  were  ordained  by  the  former. 
As  the  use  of  the  church  was  denied  them  for  Synod- 
ical  business,  the  ordination  took  place  in  the  grove 
adjoining.  The  proceedings  of  the  earlier  meeting 
were  pronounced  null  and  void,  and  the  three  brethren 
assumed  the  name  and  title  of  the  Synod  of  North 
Carolina.  Warm  controversies  ensued  and  these  de- 
veloped a  sharp  conflict  of  doctrine  which  rendered 
fruitless  all  attempts  at  reconciliation  in  the  following 
year,  when  both  bodies  assembled  at  the  same  time 
and  place  to  hold  a  Synodical  convention.  After 
an  earnest  discussion  of  their  differences,  the  majority 
withdrew  to  another  building.  Those  who  remained 
soon  adjourned  and  a  few  months  later,  July  17,  1820, 
completed  the  organization  of  the  Tennessee  Synod, 
adopting  this  name  on  account  of  the  state  in  which 
they  met,  their  congregations  being  scattered  also 
over  the  Carolinas  and  Virginia. 

The  doctrines  dividing  the  two  parties  were  chiefly 
Original  Sin,  the  Person  of  Christ,  and  especially  Bap- 
tism and  the  Lord's  Supper.  On  all  these  the  North 
Carolina  Synod  was  condemned  as  holding  unluther- 
an  views,  and  "the  plan  for  a  general  union  of  our 
church,"  so  warmly  espoused  by  that  synod,  was  de- 
clared to  be  "against  the  Augsburg  Confession."  The 
General  Synod  was  denounced  as  a  hierarchy  depriv- 
ing the  congregations  of  their  rights,"  a  measure  re- 
plete with  mischief,  threatening  imminent  danger  to 
the  liberties  of  the  American  people."  All  the  other 
Synods  were  in  fact  condemned  as  heretical. 

The  new  organization  was   the   only   synod  which 


374  The  Ltttherans  in  America. 

then  formally  and  unqualifiedly  received  the  Augs- 
burg- Confesssion.  Its  members  considered  it  for  a 
long-  time  their  special  mission  to  oppose  the  General 
Synod  and  to  preserve  and  develop  the  pure  Lutheran 
faith  in  America.  Their  leader  and  ablest  champion 
to  the  time  of  his  death  was  Rev.  David  Henkel,  a  son 
of  Rev.  Paul  Henkel.  By  close  application  and  pri- 
vate study  he  had  acquired  a  knowledge  of  Latin  and 
Greek,  of  Hebrew  and  Theology,  and  understood  the 
mastery  of  men  as  well  as  of  books. 

For  the  sake  of  preserving  a  language  which  con- 
tained the  treasures  of  Lutheran  literature,  German 
was  at  first  made  obligatory  in  the  discussions  of  the 
Synod,  but  in  less  than  twenty  years  its  use  disap- 
peared, and  that  without  any  abatement  in  the  devo- 
tion to  Lutheran  doctrine.  During  a  period  of  forty- 
five  years  the  Augsburg  Confession  was  recognized 
as  a  sufficient  exponent  of  the  Lutheran  faith,  while 
Luther's  Small  Catechism  was  the  manual  for  the  in- 
struction of  the  young.  But  in  1886  the  other  Symbols 
were  declared  to  be  a  faithful  scriptural  explanation 
of  the  doctrines  contained  in  the  Augsburg  Confes- 
sion. As  oreneral  indifference  to  those  features  which 
characterize  the  Lutheran  Church  had  long  prevailed, 
the  apprehension  of  Lutheran  doctrines  was  to  these 
men  like  a  new  and  rich  discovery,  and  the  tide  run- 
ning strongly  against  them,  had  the  effect  of  making 
them  very  firm  and  zealous  in  their  maintenance. 
Great  stress  was  laid  upon  them  in  their  preaching. 
They  were  talked  about  constantly  by  the  way  and  at 
the  fireside  and  made  an  all  important  element  in  the 
examination    of   candidates   for   the    ministry.     Thus 


The  Independent  Synods.  375 

the  clergy,  whatever  their  defects,  have  always  been 
well  erounded  in  Lutheran  dosfmatics. 

A  high  standard  of  general  education  was  always 
advocated,  and  though  proper  institutions  were  at  first 
lacking,  all  candidates  were  expected  to  submit  to  an 
examination  in  Greek  and  Hebrew.  Even  after  they 
had  received  license  to  preach  as  deacons  they  were 
r<  quired  to  prosecute  their  studies  from  two  to  six 
years  before  they  could  enter  fully  the  pastoral  office. 
The  Synod,  in  the  interests  of  a  thorough  preparation 
and  indoctrination,  deviated  in  this  for  some  time  from 
the  Lutheran  principle  of  the  parity  of  ministers. 

Fully  persuaded  that  the  doctrines  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  were  the  doctrines  of  God's  Word  and  recog- 
nizing the  duty  of  those  who  have  came  to  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  truth  to  publish  it  to  the  world,  these 
Tennesseeans  had  recourse  to  the  press  and  issued 
from  time  to  time  a  number  of  translations  from  Ger- 
man theological  wjrks,  as  well  as  original  doctrinal, 
devotional  and  polemic  treatises,  being  in  this  respect 
as  well  as  in  their  unreserved  acceptance  of  the  Con- 
fession far  in  advance  of  the  other  Lutheran  Synods. 
Fortunately  a  publishing  house  had  been  founded  by 
the  Henkel  family  as  early  as  1805  at  New  Market, 
Va.  When  the  Tennessee  Synod  was  formed  this 
came  at  once  into  its  service,  and  it  had  until  very  re- 
cently good  grounds  for  the  claim  that  it  has  pub- 
lished more  distinctively  Lutheran  theological  works 
in  the  English  language  than  any  other  publishing- 
house  in  the  world.  Its  most  daring  and  important 
enterprise  was  the  English  translation  of  the  Chris- 
tian Book  of  Concord,  or  the  whole  of  the   Lutheran 


The  Independent  Synods.  ^yj 

Symbols,  the  first  edition  of  which  appeared  in  1851. 
It  was  a  work  of  faith  and  self-sacrificing  devotion,  con- 
ceived and  directed  by  a  layman,  Dr.  Samuel  Godfrey 
Henkel,  but  encouraged  and  supported  by  the  Synod. 
A  second,  revised  edition  was  called  for  three  years 
later.  "Luther  on  the  Sacraments"  was  issued  in  1853, 
and  Luther's  "  Church  Postil,"  Sermons  on  the  Epis- 
tles for  the  Sundays  and  Festivals  of  the  year,  in  1869. 
The  result  of  these  publications  in  reviving  and  pre- 
serving the  faith  of  our  fathers  cannot  be  estimated, 
and  the  pain  of  heart  with  which  we  note  this  first 
rupture  of  the  Lutheran  body  in  America,  is  consider- 
ably relieved  when  one  sees  how  the  providence  of  God 
employed  it  to  recover  the  buried  and  almost  for- 
gotten treasures  of  the  Reformation  and  to  coin  them 
into  the  current  language  of  this  great  country. 

Catechisation  was  from  the  beginning  the  main  re- 
liance for  building  up  congregations.  For  many 
years  no  one  except  in  very  special  cases  was  con- 
firmed without  a  previous  course  of  instruction.  The 
pastors  were  wont  to  teach  continuously  from  ten  to 
fifteen  days  of  six  hours  each.  They  used  the  Cate- 
chism as  a.  basis.  With  this  they  propounded  ques- 
tions to  awaken  thought,  and  after  stating  clearly  a 
specific  truth  required  each  catechumen  to  find  and 
mark  the  proof-text  in  his  own  bible.  They  dismissed 
no  subject  until  they  were  sure  that  conviction  had 
been  wrought.  Patient,  faithful  and  devoted  in  this 
work,  they  made  their  catechumens  intelligent  Lu- 
therans,  enlightened  Christians,  and  it  was  only  in 
rare  cases  that  a  member  of  their  congregations,  no 


3J&  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

matter  what  his  location  or  situation,  left  the  Lu- 
theran Church. 

Always  animated  by  the  missionary  spirit,  the  ag- 
gressive work  of  the  Synod  was  very  much  hindered 
and  has  been  largely  misunderstood  through  a  singu- 
lar article  in  its  Constitution.  Dreading  whatever 
savors  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State,  it  prohib- 
ited the  Synod  from  becoming  an  incorporated  body 
and  from  having  a  treasury  for  either  missions  or 
Theological  Seminaries.  This  precluded  efficient 
organization  and  a  business-like  management  of  the 
cause,  but  although  this  interfered  materially  with  the 
garnering  of  the  harvest,  it  did  not  damp  the  ardor 
nor  arrest  the  activity  of  sowing  the  seed.  The  statis- 
tics may  not  be  flattering,  but  the  ministers,  almost  to 
a  man,  were  missionaries  in  every  sense  of  the  word. 
With  no  board  to  aid  them,  no  treasury  to  support 
them,  they  made  long  journeys  North,  West  and 
South,  in  nine  different  States,  on  horse-back,  over 
rough  ways,  through  wild  and  thinly  settled  districts, 
exposed  to  serious  dangers,  and  suffering  great  priva- 
tions, teaching,  preaching,  baptizing,  organizing  con- 
gregations and  administering  the  Holy  Supper,  trust- 
ing for  their  expenses  to  the  communities  which  they 
visited.  Some  of  the  ministers  devoted  half  their 
time  to  this  work.  In  later  years  missionary  opera- 
tions have  been  conducted  through  the  three  confer- 
ences into  which  the  Synod  is  divided. 

As  the  visible  result  of  her  missionary  work,  the 
Tennessee  Synod  points  to  the  organization  of  the 
Indiana  Synod  in  1835,  tne  English  Conference  of 
Missouri,  which  has  become  a  district  of  the   Missouri 


The  Independent  Synods.  379 

Synod,  and  the  Holston  Synod,  organised  in  i860  by 
the  ministers  and  congregations  in  the  State  of  Ten- 
nessee. Notwithstanding  these  separations  and  in 
spite  of  a  multitude  of  peculiar  obstacles,  the  parent 
body  still  numbers  thirty-two  ministers,  somewhat 
more  than  one  hundred  congregations,  ten  thou- 
sand communicants,  "intelligent,  reading,  thinking 
and  industrious  people,"  and  has  flourishing  schools  at 
Conover  and  Dallas,  both  in  the  State  of  North 
Carolina,  and  at  Luray,  Va.  Concordia  College  at  Con- 
over  has  both  a  Theological  and  a  Collegiate  depart- 
ment, and  is  controlled  by  the  Synod.  The  other  two 
are  female  institutions  in  the  hands  of  successful  in- 
structors. In  one  of  its  first  conventions  this  Synod 
put  upon  record  its  conviction  that  slavery  is  an  evil 
and  appealed  to  the  government  to  devise  measures 
for  its  abolition.  It  called  likewise  upon  slave-owners 
to  provide  in  the  meantime  for  the  Christian  educa- 
tion of  their  slaves,  a  large  number  of  whom  it 
appears  from  the  pastoral  reports  were  baptized  by 
its  pastors.  The  Columbus  Standard  was  its  organ 
till  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  It  now  publishes  "Our 
Church  Paper." 

The  Synod  maintained  its  independence  until  in 
July  1886  at  Roanoke,  Va.,  it  joined  with  the  other 
Lutherans  Synods  of  the  South  in  forming  the  United 
Synod,  a  union  being  thus  effected  of  bodies  which 
had  for  fifty  years  antagonized  each  other.  The 
grounds  for  this  happy  consummation  are  numerous. 
Time  had  softened  the  asperities  of  religious  contro- 
versy. Old  prejudices  had  died  away.  A  spirit  of 
concord   and    co-operation    had  made  itself  felt.     A 


380  The  Lzithcrans  in  A7nerica. 

sense  of  responsibility  to  gather  the  harvest  which 
Providence  had  ripened,  pointed  to  union  as  the  con- 
dition of  success.  The  Tennesseeans  were  not  con- 
scious of  any  relaxation  of  Lutheran  orthodoxy,  yet 
in  some  respects  a  more  liberal  tendency  prevailed. 
A  new  constitution  was  adopted  in  1866  and  the  ma- 
jority were  sufficiently  satisfied  with  the  confessional 
advance  which  marked  the  other  Synods  to  enter  into 
organic  relations  with  them.  Finally  by  education,  by 
long  contact  and  personal  association,  both  parties 
had  mutually  come  to  a  better  understanding  of  each 
other's  spirit  principles  and  work. 

THE  JOINT  SYNOD  OF  OHIO. 

The  oldest  Lutheran  organization  west  of  the  Alle- 
gheny mountains  is  the  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio  and  ad- 
jacent States.  Its  beginnings  date  back  to  181 2,  be- 
tween which  date  and  1817  special  conferences  were 
held  of  the  various  Lutheran  pastors  who  had  found 
their  way  to  the  new  State  of  Ohio.  The  name 
of  Conference  was  retained  down  to  the  year  1830. 
The  first  meeting  of  the  Joint  Synod,  as  such,  was  not 
held  until  1833.  Its  origin  and  development  did  not 
spring  from  the  deliberations  of  an  older  body  in  the 
East,  but  rather  from  the  necessity  of  the  case  as  seen 
and  appreciated  by  a  few  Lutheran  pastors.  People 
of  the  Lutheran  faith  were  found  among  the  early  set- 
tlers of  Ohio,  chiefly  in  Fairfield,  Perry,  Pickaway, 
Monto-omery,  Columbiana,  Stark  and  Jefferson  coun- 
ties. The  missionary  spirit  that  now  prompts  the 
Lutheran  Synods  to  look  to  the  spiritual  interests  of 
their  brethren  who  seek  homes  and  fortunes  in  remote 


fe 


REV.   W.   F.   LEHMANN. 


The  Independent  Synods.  381 

districts,  did  not  operate  then  as  it  does  now.  The 
understanding  and  appreciation  of  the  historic  teach- 
ings of  the  Church  of  the  Reformation  had  not  been 
so  fully  developed,  and  accordingly  had  not  become 
so  determined  and  aggressive.  The  few  weak  synods 
had,  besides,  such  an  abundance  of  labor  in  their  own 
territory  that  little  could  be  done  for  the  destitute 
brethren  in  the  West.  The  pioneer  gospel  work  de- 
volved therefore,  of  necessity,  mainly  upon  those  who 
in  themselves  felt  the  call  and  the  need  of  planting 
the  Lutheran  Church  in  the  new  settlements  and 
gathering  into  folds  her  scattered  children. 

The  work  of  that  day  had  a  unique  character  and 
was  really  indicative  of  greater  zeal  and  fervor  than 
are  the  organized  missionary  efforts  of  our  synods  in 
the  new  West  at  present.  Neither  money  nor  honor 
awaited  those  first  messengers  of  the  cross.  They 
could  expect  only  a  living,  a  poor  one  at  that  as  a 
rule,  and  the  approval  of  their  conscience.  By  men 
of  this  stamp  and  actuated  by  this  spirit  were  laid  the 
foundations  for  the  first  Lutheran  Synod  of  the  West. 
They  employed  almost  exclusively  the  German  tongue 
the  object  being  to  gather  into  congregations  those 
who  in  Europe  had  been  members  of  the  Lutheran 
state  churches,  or  in  the  East  had  been  Lutheran. 
Even  yet  is  the  Home  Mission  activity  of  the  Lutherans 
distinguished  from  that  of  the  other  denominations  by 
the  fact  that  it  aims  primarily,  and  often  exclusively, 
at  gathering  their  own  lost  sheep.  The  English  por- 
tion of  the  Church  has  of  late  years  addressed  itself 
more  to  the  general  public  and  with  cheerino-  results. 
The  founders  of  the  Ohio  Synod  introduced  Eno-lish 


382  The  Ltitherans  in  America. 

at  an  early  date.  The  rapid  Americanization  of  the 
German  Lutherans,  especially  in  language,  made  it  im- 
perative, and  soon  led  to  the  organization  of  an  Eng- 
lish district. 

These  pastors   had  a  task  before  them  not  easy  to 
accomplish.     The    Lutherans  were   widely    scattered. 
They  were   poor   in   this  world's  goods,  but,  as  a  rule' 
anxious  to  hear  the  Gospel  and  from  teachers  of  their 
own  Church.    The  facilities  for  getting  from  one  place 
to  another  were  exceedingly  poor,  and  the  almost  end- 
less journeys  of  these  preachers,  generally  on  horse- 
back, always   involved    great  fatigue,  privation    and 
often    danger.     One  would    frequently  spend    six    or 
seven  weeks  on  a  missionary  tour  of  this  sort.     Such 
hospitality  as  the  people  could  give  he  accepted,  and 
his  remuneration  was  generally  little  or  nothing.    The 
story  of  the  ups  and  downs  of  these  men  and  the  zeal 
they  displayed    reads    almost    like  a  romance.     It  is 
refreshing  in  these  days  when  the  general  tendencies 
of  the  churches,  and  of  their  pastors,  in  a  measure  too, 
are  toward  effeminacy  and  ease,  to  read  of  the  sturdy 
courage,   the     untiring    activity,    and    the    persistent 
heroic  enterprise  of  these  men.     They  were,  perhaps, 
not  as  deeply  versed  in'theological  lore  as  are  the  pas- 
tors of  to-day.     Their  libraries  consisted  merely  of  a 
handful  of  books,  and  they  did  not  have  the  time  or 
opportunity    to    secure    scholastic    attainments.      But 
though  lacking  in  their  heads  they  were  rich  in  their 
hearts.     Their  preaching  was  the  promulgation  of  the 
simple  Gospel  truth  without  much   rhetorical  flourish 
or  ornamental   paraphernalia.     But  they  worked  sue- 


384  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

cessfully  in  a  field  that  required  greater  devotion  and 
enterprise  than  do  the  missionary  efforts  of  to-day. 

The  growth  of  the  Ohio  Synod  has  been  steady, 
and  in  comparison  with  most  of  the  other  Lutheran 
Synods,  rapid.  Its  present  statistics  are  two  hundred 
and  seventy  pastors,  sixty-five  parochial  school  teach- 
ers, four  hundred  and  twenty  congregations  and  fifty- 
seven  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-two  com- 
municants. It  was  from  the  beginning  zealous  for 
education  and  in  the  number  of  its  institutions  com- 
pares very  favorably  with  the  other  Lutheran  bodies. 
The  Theological  Seminary  at  Columbus  was  estab- 
lished in  1833.  Capital  University  at  the  same  place, 
in  1850.  It  sustains  now  five  different  higher  institu- 
tions, with  nearly  three  hundred  students  for  the  cleri- 
cal or  pedagogic  vocation,  and  a  Home  sheltering  one 
hundred  orphans 

The  running  expenses  of  these  institutions  reach 
the  sum  of  $30,000,  all  of  which  except  what  is  de- 
rived from  the  publishing  house  at  Columbus,  is  pro- 
vided by  the  benevolence  of  the  congregations.  The 
cost  of  their  erection  has  also  been  borne  by  the 
people  in  general,  the  largest  single  donation  thus  far 
made  being  $5,000.00,  contributed  several  years  ago  for 
the  liquidation  of  the  debt  on  Capital  University. 

The  rapid  growth  of  the  work  of  the  Synod  in  the 
last  ten  or  fifteen  years  as  compared  with  that  of  the 
decades  preceding,  is  due  largely  to  the  rapid 
development  of  missionary  interest  and  the  increase 
of  territory  occupied  by  the  Synod.  Ten  years  ago 
the  different  districts  of  the  Synod,  of  which  there 
were  six,    two    English   and   the   rest  German,  did   a 


The  Independent  Synods.  385 

little  work  in  this  direction,  but  the  appointment  of  a 
general  Mission  Committee,  in  1884,  marked  the  begin- 
ning of  a  new  era.  Missionary  work  is  now  being  done 
in  twenty  states  and  territories,  from  North  Carolina 
and  Maryland  in  the  East  to  Oregon  and  Washing- 
ton Territory  in  the  West.  Formerly  there  was  not 
a  single  missionary  engaged  exclusively  in  the  work, 
the  pastors  doing  what  they  could  in  this  direction  in 
addition  to  their  congregational  duties,  now  there  are 
twenty-six  missionaries  under  the  direction  of  the 
Committee  and  fully  twenty-five  more  have  been  called 
for.  Some  of  these  missionaries  have  as  high  as  a 
dozen,  fifteen  or  even  twenty  preaching  places,  the  ma- 
jority of  which  in  a  short  time  generally  become  fully 
organized  congregations.  The  annual  expenses  of 
the  Mission  Committee  are  about  twelve  thousand 
dollars,  a  large  proportion  of  which  is  raised  by  the 
Sunday-schools  on  Childrens'  Day.  The  most  of  this 
work  is  among  the  German  emigrants  of  the  West, 
although  English  interests  are  cared  for  also,  particu- 
larly in  the  larger  cities.  The  cause  is  growing  in  the 
Synod  in  a  most  encouraging  manner  and  is  one  of 
the  best  signs  of  its  inner  prosperity  and  soundness. 

The  Ohio  Synod  has  all  along,  with  the  exception 
of  about  a  dozen  years  when  it  was  in  connection 
with  the  Synodical  Conference,  been  an  independent 
body.  Efforts  were  made  in  earlier  times  to  form  a 
union  with  the  General  Synod  and  later  with  the 
General  Council;  but  in  both  cases  the  attempt 
proved  a  failure.  This  was  the  case  principally  on 
account  of  the  conservative  and  strictly  confessional 
standpoint  of  the  Ohio  Synod.     The   union   with    th<- 


386  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

Conference  was  severed  in  1881,  on  account  of  the 
doctrine  of  Predestination  as  taught  by  the  Missouri 
Synod,  the  leading  member  of  the  Conference.  The 
Synod  has  at  no  time  enjoyed  a  more  flourishing- 
period  than  it  does  now,  and  the  prospects  for  success- 
ful work  were  never  better.  The  language  question 
has  caused  but  little  difficulty.  Just  now  it  is  the  trans- 
ition period,  and  in  fully  one  third  of  the  charges  both 
German  and  English  preaching  are  required,  the 
former  for  the  older  the  latter  for  the  younger 
element.  There  are  thirty  or  forty  exclusively  Eng- 
lish congregations.  This  state  of  affairs  is  reflected 
in  the  institutions,  in  which  the  German  and  the 
English  are  both  used  as  mediums  of  instruction  and 
intercourse.  On  the  floor  of  Synod  both  languages 
have  equal  rights  and  all  transactions  are  recorded 
in  both.  Its  popular  periodicals,  TheStandard  and 
Die  Lutherische  Kirchcnzeitiing,  and  its  theological 
journals,  The  Theological  Monthly  and  Theolo^ische 
Zeitblaetter  are  ably  conducted,  and  it  has  made  valu- 
able contributions  to  permanent  church  literature. 

THE  IOWA   SYXOD. 

The  German  Synod  of  Iowa  and  other  States  ac- 
cepts the  Bible  as  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  the  Lu- 
theran Confessions  as  "the  pure  and  unadulterated  rep- 
resentation of  the  divine  Word  and  Law."  It  con- 
demns secret  societies  as  anti-christian  and  repudiates 
all  unionistic  tendencies.  Holding  unreservedly  all 
doctrines  of  faith  expressed  in  the  Symbolical  Books 
as  binding,  it  allows  diversity  of  opinion  on  theological 
questions  which  do  not  come  in  conflict  with  articles 


Rev.  GOTTFRIED  FRITSChEI,,  ».  r». 


The  Independent  Synods.  387 

of  faith.  Among  such  "open  questions"  in  which  full 
agreement,  though  desirable,  is  not  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  Church  fellowship,  are  "the  development  and 
explanation  of  Eschatology,  Anti-Christ,  the  Sabbath 
and  the  Holy  Office." 

In  the  fall  of  1853,  Rev.  G.  Grossman,  Superintend- 
ent of  the  first  Protestant  Normal  School  of  this 
country,  who  had  come  into  collision  with  the  Mis- 
souri Synod  on  one  of  the  above  "questions,"  removed 
his  school  to  Dubuque,  Iowa,  so  as  not  to  occasion 
schisms  in  neighboring  congregations  of  that  body. 
After  some  disheartening  trials,  he  began  teaching 
here  with  two  students  who  had  accompanied  him  ; 
several  were  sent  from  Germany  and  on  November 
10  a  seminary  was  opened  in  a  building  which  served 
as  church,  parsonage,  school-room  and  professor's  resi- 
dence. Free  lodging  was  the  professor's  salary.  In 
the  following  July  Rev.  Sigmund  Fritschel  became 
second  instructor.  These  two  in  company  with  Rev. 
J.  Deindoerfer,  who  had  left  Michigan  along  with 
Grossman  and  settled  west  of  Dubuque,  and  Rev.  M. 
Schueller  who  served  a  congregation  near  Dubuque, 
formed  themselves,  August  24,  1854,  at  St.  Sebald,  into 
the  EvangelicanLutheral  Synod  of  Iowa. 

No  Synod  in  the  United  States  has  been  founded 
under  more  discouraging  prospects.  Its  three  congre- 
gations— one  consisting  of  less  than  six  families — were 
absolutely  unable  to  support  a  seminary.  Once  dur- 
ing that  year  the  institution  was  actually  discontinued 
for  a  few  days,  when  an  unexpected  gift  enabled  the 
work  to  be  resumed.  But  for  many  years  all  had  to 
live  and  labor  in  great  poverty  as  but  little  financial 


388 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


support  came  from  congregations.  The  seminary- 
was  removed  to  St.  Sebald,  1857,  where  a  part  of  its 
support  could  be  raised  on  a  farm.  The  professors 
for  the  time  received  house-rent  and  board.  Rev.  S. 
Fritschel  had  accepted  a  call  to  a  congregation  in 
1854,  as  only  one  teacher  could  be  supported;  but  in 
May,  1857,  his  brother,  Rev.  Gottfried  Fritschel,  took 
his  place,  while  a  year  later  he  returned  to  the  sem- 
inary. 

In    1855  the  Synod   had  five  ministers  and  five  con- 


GERMAN  EVANGELICAL  LUTHERAN  ORPHAN  ASYLUM,  TOLEDO,  O 


gregations,  in  1856  nine  and  eight  respectively;  in 
1858  these  figures  had  grown  to  eighteen  and  thirty- 
one ;  in  1861  to  thirty-six  and  fifty.  In  its  eleventh 
year,  1865,  it  reached  fifty  ministers,  seventy  congrega- 
tions and  six  thousand  communicants. 

From    its    organization    this   body  showed  earnest 
missionary  zeal.     No  distance  was  too  great,  no  roads 


The  I v dependent  Synods.  389 

too  rough,  no  season  too  unfavorable ;  in  the  heat  of 
summer  and  in  the  cold  blasts  of  western  winters, 
through  mud,  slush  and  frozen  streams,  ministers 
sought  and  served  new  fields  of  labor.  One  professor 
frequently  walked  twenty-five  miles  and  back  be- 
tween Saturday  and  Monday;  another  served  congre- 
gations more  than  forty  miles  from  his  place  of  resi- 
dence, traveling  mostly  afoot. 

When  the  Buffalo  and  Missouri  Synods  maintained 
a  contest,  especially  on  the  ministerial  office,  the  Iowa 
Synod  held  an  intermediate  position  between  the 
democratic  view  of  Missouri  and  the  episcopal  of 
Buffalo.  It  seemed  for  a  time  as  though  Iowa  could 
work  in  harmony  with  Buffalo,  and  ministers  of  the 
former  synod  were  called  to  congregations  of  the  lat- 
ter. But  on  account  of  certain  eschatological  views 
entertained  by  some  of  the  Iowa  men,  these  friendly 
relations  were  not  lone  maintained. 

The  Missouri  Synod  took  from  the  beginning  a  hos- 
tile stand  toward  members  of  the  Iowa  Synod.  By 
its  influential  press  these  were  vigorously  attacked 
and  the  reproach  of  heresy  was  sought  to  be  fixed 
upon  them  even  in  Germany.  All  endeavors  to  pro- 
mote a  good  understanding  between  the  two  bodies 
proved  vain,  all  explanations  were  misunderstood  or 
misinterpreted.  But  Iowa  did  not  relax  its  efforts 
to  bring  about  peace  with  Missouri  as  well  as  with 
other  synods.  Its  relations  with  the  Minnesota  and 
the  Wisconsin  Synods  became  very  friendly,  and  event- 
ually its  continued  endeavors  were  so  far  successful 
that  a  Colloquium  was  held  with  the  Missouri  Synod, 
November  13-19,  1867,  at  Milwaukee,  Wis.     The  re- 


39° 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


suit  was  deemed  encouraging  by  many.  Though  no 
agreement  had  been  attained  peace  seemed  possible. 

Throughout  this  period  the  territory  of  the  Iowa 
Synod  continued  to  widen.  A  number  of  congrega- 
tions were  formed  in  the  vicinity  of  Toledo,  Ohio,  Des 
Moines,  Iowa,  Madison,  Wis.,  in  south-ea  stern  Mis- 
souri, in  Illinois  and  elsewhere.  Missionary  work  was 
also  undertaken  among  the  Indians.  The  first  trials 
were  made  in  1856  by  Rev.  Jakob  Schmidt  in  Canada; 
he  went  in  1858  to  the  Crows  or  Upsarokas  between 
the  Yellowstone  river  and  the  Black  Hills.  In  1859 
he  and  M.  Braeuninger,  Doederlein  and  Seyler  with 
two  colonists  started  to  establish  a  station  on  the 
Powder  river,  Wyoming,  but  i860,  missionary  Braeun- 
inger was  murdered  by  a  band  of  Sioux. 

A  new  station  on  the  Deer  Creek,  Neb,  was  estab- 
lished among  the  Zistas  or  Cheyennes.  Three  Indian 
boys  were  given  to  be  educated  ;  missionary  Krebs 
translated  Luther's  Catechism  into  the  Cheyenne 
language  and  in  1863  the  missionaries  had  commenced 
to  preach  in  the  Cheyenne  language,  when  the  Sioux 
induced  all  Indians  in  Nebraska  to  go  upon  the  war- 
path. The  missionaries  reluctantly  withdrew,  only 
when  a  party  of  Sioux  approached  expressly  to  m «ir- 
der  them.  Thus  unhappily  ended  the  Indian  mission 
in  its  very  infancy.  The  Indian  boys  fled  with  the 
missionaries  and  were  afterwards  baptized.  Two  of 
them  lie  buried  at  St.  Sebald  ;  a  plain  cross  marks  the 
place;  and  the  short  inscription:  "Two  Indians," 
tells  the  story  of  a  relatively  fruitless  enterprise. 

The  persistent  attacks  upon  the  Synod  created 
gradually  dissatisfaction  within   its   bosom.      In    order 


The  Independent  Synods.  391 

to  set  forth  unmistakably  its  position  the  paragraph 
stating  the  doctrinal  basis  was  changed  to  the  form 
which  had  been  used  at  every  ordination  from  the 
very  beginning.  No  change  of  doctrinal  position  was 
intended,  but  simply  a  more  unmistakable  form  was 
adopted  at  Davenport  1873.  The  Synod  was  at  once 
charged  with  having  surrendered  its  former  doctrinal 
basis,  and  by  various  means  it  was  sought  to  produce 
dissatisfaction  and  disharmony  within  the  body. 
From  May  1,  1874  until  October  15,  1875  the  attacks 
of  the  "  Lutheraner  "  were  sent  broadcast  to  ministers 
and  members  of  the  Iowa  Synod.  As  a  result  of  this 
the  appearance  of  an  organized  party  in  the  Synod 
divergent  in  objects  yet  one  in  opposition,  and  the 
dissolution  of  the  Synod,  seemed  inevitable.  The  gen- 
eral meeting  appointed  for  1876  had  to  be  held  in 
1875  at  Madison.  It  adopted  a  series  of  resolutions 
clearly  and  finally  stating  its  doctrinal  basis ;  and  the 
opposition  broke  into  fragments.  About  twenty  min- 
isters severed  their  connection,  leaving  the  number  in 
the  Synod  about  one  hundred.  Only  a  few  of  the 
congregations  could  be  induced  to  secede  with  them, 
and  the  withdrawing  ministers  connected  themselves 
mostly  with  Synods  of  the  Synodical  Conference. 

In  a  suit-at-law  brought  by  a  majority  of  the  con- 
gregation at  Wilton,  Iowa,  to  recover  property  from 
the  minority  and  the  pastor,  the  decision  was  in  favor 
of  the  Iowa  party,  and  the  Supreme  Court  of  Iowa 
sustained  the  judgment  of  the  lower  courts. 

It  had  been  alleged  that  the  attacks  upon  the  Iowa 
Synod  were  made  on  documentary  evidence  from 
official  publications  of  the  Synod.     These  proofs  were 


392  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

examined  and  refuted  in  "  Iowa  and  Missouri,"  an  ex- 
ceedingly thorough  work  in  which  it  is  claimed  the 
position  of  the  Iowa  Synod  was  fully  vindicated. 

The  Theological  Seminary  was  removed  in  1874  to 
Mendota,  Ills.,  and  occupied  a  building  of  the  former 
Mendota  College  of  the  General  Synod. 

The  severe  trials  through  which  the  Synod  passed 
gave  it  greater  strength  and  a  rapid  increase.  At  the 
Quarto-Centennial,  celebrated  in  1879  at  Maxfield, 
Iowa, a  Teachers'  Seminary  was  established.  In  1885 
the  Colleee  founded  in   1868  was  united  with   it  and 

o 

the  institution  is  now  in  a  flourishing  condition  at 
Waverly,  Iowa,  with  an  able  staff  of  instructors.  The 
Seminary  also  outgrew  its  quarters  and  when  the 
Synod  in  1888  called  for  $10,000  to  erect  buildings 
at  Dubuque,  the  congregations  responded  with  $15,000. 
The  new  building  will  accomodate  ninety  students. 

Home  Mission  work  was  systematically  organized 
in  1879  and  the  Synod  has  since  worked  quietly,  but 
diligently,  throughout  the  West,  among  the  immi- 
grants. Though  every  year  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
new  workers  are  sent  into  the  field  these  are  insuf- 
ficient to  supply  all  the  urgent  applications.  The  rapid 
increase  of  recent  years  is  as  follows:  1875,  one  hun- 
dred and  fourteen  ministers,  one  hundred  and  eighty 
congregations;  1882,  one  hundred  and  seventy  minis- 
ters, two  hundred  and  seventy-five  congregations  ; 
1889,  two  hundred  and  seventy-two  ministers,  five  hun- 
dred congregations,  and  not  less  than  forty  thousand 
communicants. 

The  Synod  is  divided  into  six  districts,  which  meet 
annually  ;  whilst  the  delegate  Synod  meets  every  third 


The  Independent  Synods.  393 

year.  Conferences  are  held  for  deliberation  and  the 
discussion  of  theological  questions.  Visitations  are 
made  to  superintend  the  enforcement  of  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Synod.  All  the  money  necessary  for  the 
support  of  the  Synod  and  its  institutions  is  raised  by 
the  voluntary  contributions  of  the  congregations. 

Besides  the  Seminary  and  the  College,  the  Synod 
sustains  two  Orphans'  homes;  one  at  Toledo,  Ohio 
and  one  at  Andrew,  Iowa.  Support  is  given  to  the 
Foreign  Missions  of  the  General  Council  as  well  as 
to  some  Missionary  Societies  in  Germany.  The 
Wartburg  Publishing  House  furnishes  Lutheran  books 
for  home,  school  and  church  use,  and  three  periodicals, 
the  "Kirchenblatt,"  the  "  Kirchliche  Zeitschrift,"  and 
"Waisenhausblaetter."  A  Mutual  Aid  Society  assists 
widows  and  orphans;  and  a  "  Pfarrwittwen-Kasse " 
pays  an  annuity  to  widows  of  deceased  ministers. 

The  Iowa  Synod  has  always  maintained  friendly 
relations  with  the  General  Council  of  the  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Church,  and  has  worked  in  harmony  with 
it.  But  thus  far  it  has  not  united  organically  with 
the  Council ;  while  it  sincerely  hopes  the  time  will 
come  when  every  obstacle  to  union  may  be  removed. 

One  of  its  strong  men,  Rev.  Gottfried  Fritschel, 
D.  D.,  has  just  passed  to  his  reward.  From  the  time 
of  his  ordination  in  1857  he  served  as  Professor  in 
the  Wartburg  Seminary,  where  he  labored  with  un- 
faltering diligence,  with  profound  attainments  and 
with  enthusiasm  for  the  Lutheran  Church  and  her 
faith.  Not  less  than  four  hundred  students  sat  at 
his  feet  during  this  period  and  "  he  has  left  an  impress 
upon  all  these  minds  which  the  Lutheran  Church  in 


394 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


America  will  never  cease  to  feel."  He  was  beloved 
as  a  preacher  as  he  was  tireless  in  missionary  activity. 
Of  an  irenic  temper  and  diffident  almost  to  l  fault, 
circumstances  forced  him  into  controversies  which  he 
conducted  with  great  ability  and  vigor.  The  pros- 
perity which  has  attended  the  Iowa  Synod  and  its 
Seminary  is  due  under  God  in  large  measure  "to  the 
unpretentious  and  quiet  but  solid  and  faithful  work 
which  he  did  as  a  professor  and  teacher." 


THE  NORWEGIANS. 


Kling  Petersen,  the  first  immigrant  from  Norway 
of  whom  we  have  any  history,  came  to  America  in 
182 1.  He  returned  after  three  years  and  aroused  an 
American  interest  among  his  people.  Rigging  out  a 
small  vessel,  he  left  Stavanger  with  fifty-two  persons, 
July  4,  1825.  Landing  in  New  York,  October  9,  the 
little  band  proceeded  to  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  where  they 
formed  the  first  Norwegian  colony  in  America. 

In  1836-7  the  first  colonists  settled  in  the  west  along 
Fox  river,  in  La  Salle  county,  111.  Since  then  there 
has  been  a  steadily  increasing  stream,  bringing  some 
years  as  high  as  fifteen  thousand.  These  new  comers 
are  scattered  over  the  whole  country,  so  that  Nor- 
wegian Lutheran  churches  are  now  found  from  Port- 
land, Oregon,  to  Portland  Maine,  from  Manitoba  to 
Texas.  For  years  the  people  were  destitute  of  pas- 
toral care.  They  had  brought  with  them  their  Bibles, 
hymn-books  and  devotional  manuals,  and  thus  they 
enjoyed  the  means  of  private  edification,  but  having 
no  church  organization  they  suffered  sad  spiritual  des- 
titution.    On  every   returning  Lord's  day  they  were 


The  Independent  Synods.  395 

forcibly  reminded  of  the  wonted  ringing  of  the  church 
bells,  of  the  stately  churches,  the  beautiful  liturgical 
service,  the  soul-stirring  song,  the  richly  robed  minis- 
ter, the  elaborate  sermon — in  short  of  the  entire  wor- 
ship, as  they  had  enjoyed  it  in  their  native  home. 
Those  of  a  more  decidedly  Christian  character  called 
"Hauge's  Friends,"  having  been  awakened  by  the  re- 
ligious movement  under  Hauge  in  Norway,  did  all  in 
their  power  for  spiritual  improvement.  They  assem- 
bled with  the  people  both  on  Sunday  and  week  days 
for  mutual  edification.  They  had  experienced  the 
grace  of  God  upon  their  own  hearts,  and  would  thus 
with  power  and  unction  exhort  the  people.  They 
encouraged  the  faithful,  strengthened  the  weak,  and 
awakened  the  slumbering;  but  this  supplied  only  in  a 
measure  the  pressing  want,  and  could  not  fill  the  place 
of  public  worship  and  pastoral  care. 

Scattered  as  sheep  without  shepherd  these  strangers 
were  also  subject  to  the  proselyting  schemes  of  sec- 
tarians. The  Episcopalians  approached  them  with 
their  specious  plea  of  "essentially  no  difference." 
The  Baptists  by  ordaining  a  proselyte  expected  to 
gain  entrance  into  the  Lutheran  fold.  Even  the  Mor- 
mons attempted,  but  in  vain,  to  make  inroads  among 
them.  Very  few  were  misled  by  these  encroachments. 
Some  of  them  gladly  returned  to  their  spiritual  home. 
The  faith  that  possessed  their  hearts  guarded  them 
against  a  trumpet  giving  "an  uncertain  sound."  The 
Norwegians  are  conservative.  Their  Lutheranism 
has  such  root  in  their  hearts  that  they  do  not  readily 
exchange  it  for  every  new  "  ism."  Proselytism  among 
them  has,  therefore,  seldom  been  a  success. 


396  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

A  spiritual  awakening  visited,  in  1839,  the  commu- 
nity along  the  Fox  river,  where  lay  preachers  were 
laboring,  and  in  the  following  year  the  first  "  meeting- 
house "  was  erected.  There  was  no  ordained  minister 
among  them  until  1843,  when  Mr.  C.  L.  Clausen,  who 
had  been  a  lay  preacher  in  the  old  country,  having  re- 
ceived a  call  from  the  congregations  at  Muskego  and 
Yorkville,  Wis.,  was  ordained  by  a  German  Lutheran, 
Rev.  C.  F.  Krause,  of  Milwaukee.  In  1845  the  first 
Norwegian  Church  was  built  in  Muskego. 

A  synodical  organization  was  attempted  in  1846, 
but  beyond  a  declaration  of  general  principles  noth- 
ing was  effected.  Another  meeting,  called  at  Middle- 
town,  111.,  in  September,  1848,  in  order  to  meet  the 
demands  of  the  State  laws,  adopted  as  a  rule  for  the 
congregations  the  "Church  Discipline  of  the  Franck- 
ean  Synod,"  by  which  one  of  the  ministers  had  been 
ordained.     The  Hauge's  Synod  dates  from  1850. 

No  closer  union  between  congregations  took  place 
until  the  fall  of  1851,  when  the  Norwegian,  Swedish 
and  English  Lutherans  united  to  form  the  Synod  of 
Northern  Illinois.  In  the  year  i860,  the  two  former 
withdrew  on  account  of  doctrinal  differences,  and  in 
June  of  the  same  year  organized  the  Scandinavian 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Augustana  Synod  in  which  the 
Norwegians  and  Swedes  worked  harmoniously  to- 
gether until  1870, when  they  separated  on  the  line  of 
nationality,  and  the  Norwegian  Augustana  Synod 
was  formed.  It  was  composed  also  of  followers  of 
Hauge,  having  special  concern  for  conversion  and 
being  in  sympathy  with  the  Hauge  Synod,  but  more 
conservative,  "prizing  the  Lutheran  faith  above  every- 


The  Independent  Synods.  397 

thing,"  yet  dispensing  with  Liturgical  worship.  This 
body  was  the  first  to  establish  Sunday-schools  and  to 
introduce  English  in  public  services. 

Those  who  in  1870  formed  the  "Conference  "  form- 
erly belonged  to  the  Augustana  Synod,  but  a  reaction 
against  its  bald  worship  and  in  favor  of  churchly 
practice  led  to  the  formation  of  a  separate  body.  Its 
special  zeal  for  churchliness  and  home  missions  has 
given  it  phenomenal  progress. 

With  efficient  organization  and  an  ever-increasing 
emigration  the  Norwegian  communion  has  had  a 
steady  growth.  From  the  feeble  beginnings  little 
more  than  a  generation  ago  have  sprung  460  minis- 
ters, over  1,400  congregations  and  more  than  140,000 
communicants,  maintaining  five  Theoloeical  Semina- 
ries,  two  colleges,  three  preparatory  schools  and  four 
religious  papers. 

The  work  of  gathering  in  has  been  relatively  easy. 
Even  when  wanting  in  personal  piety  the  respect  of 
the  Norwegians  for  the  Church  and  the  Lutheran 
faith  is  such  that  unless  they  have  become  quite  un- 
godly they  mostly  seek  of  their  own  accord  the 
Church  to  which  all  belonged  in  the  old  country.  A 
little  encouragement  seldom  fails  to  win  them. 

Great  missionary  activity  has  been  shown  from  the 
beginning,  and  it  has  been  constantly  increasing. 
This  aggressive  zeal  is  largely  due  to  the  foreign 
missionary  interest  which  prevails  in  the  mother 
church,  and  which  is  intensified  here  where  means  and 
opportunity  are  at  hand.  Two  missionaries  from 
Madagascar,  each  visiting  congregations  here  some 
six   months,    within     the    last    year,   collected   about 


39« 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


$ 1 1,000  for  that  field.  At  its  first  organization  the 
Church  here  was  exclusively  a  missionary  enterprise. 
No  sooner  had  the  old  congregations  become  well 
established  and  self-supporting,  than  calls  came  to 
them     constantly   from    new   regions    to   send    them 


NORWEGIAN  SEAMEN'S  CHURCH,  BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. 

ministers  and  establish  churches  amonof  them.  Nor 
has  the  cry  abated  yet.  Immigration  is  greater  than 
ever  before,  removals  from  the  old  settlements  and 
cities  are  constantly  going  on,  and  the  people  are  now 
scattered  into  nearly  every  state  and  territory  in  the 


The  Independent  Synods.  399 

Union.  The  majority  of  the  annual  Seminary  gradu- 
ates are  sent  into  the  mission  field.  With  all  that  has 
been  accomplished  the  means  at  hand  are  still  utterly 
inadequate  to  meet  the  demands  constantly  made 
from  all  directions. 

Great    praise    for    the   growth   of  the    Norwegian 
Church  is  due  to  the  early  ministers,  who  laid  a  good 
foundation.     Constrained  by  the  love   of  Christ  and 
deeming-  themselves  called  of  God  and  men,  because 
of  the  spiritual  wants  of  their  countrymen,  they  shrank 
from  no  sacrifice.     The  pioneer  work  was  connected 
•with   all    manner    of  hardships.     The    earliest    immi- 
grants were  mostly  poor  people,  many  of  them  even  in 
actual  want.     For   years  they   had   to   battle  against 
poverty,  sickness,  and  numerous  privations  and  disad- 
vantages.    Among  such  people,  widely  scattered,   the 
first  ministers  were    called    to    labor,    necessitated    to 
make  long  and  difficult  journeys,  and  to  preach  in  small 
crowded  houses  and  as  a  rule  with  no  compensation. 
In    this   way,  by  being    more  of  itinerant  than   local 
preachers,    with    many    congregations  and  preaching 
places,  it  was  that  the  people  were  kept  together  and 
preserved    to    the    Church.       The    sermon    had  often 
little  polish,  but  it    had    pith    and    marrow.     It   gave 
the  pure,  unadorned  and   unadulterated  Word.     And 
this  is  what  the  people  longed  for  and  what  gave  them 
strength  and  joy.     A  visit  from  the  pastor  every   four 
or  six  weeks  had  to  suffice.     It  proved  a  season  of  re- 
freshing and  kept  them  constant    in    the    faith.     The 
work  was  arduous,  done  for   love's   sake   and    not  for 
lucre.     It  was    richly  blessed  of   God  to  the  spiritual 
nourishment  and  preservation  of  many  people. 


400  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

The  Norwegian  branch  of  the  Church  presents  a 
remarkable  spectacle.  From  the  very  beginning  of 
its  organization  here  there  have  been  three  different 
parties,  which  have  now  grown  to  five,  each  maintain- 
ing tenets  and  practices  of  its  own,  while  all  claim  to 
be  distinctively  Lutheran.  Different  tendencies  came 
over  from  the  mother  church.  Some  of  the  emigrants 
were  adherents  of  the  reformer  Hauge,  marked  by 
great  simplicity  and  earnestness.  Others  came  here 
in  full  sympathy  with  the  State  Church.  These 
were  opposed  to  the  pietists,  of  a  more  churchly  turn, 
zealous  for  the  faith,  and  devoted  to  the  usages  of  the 
home  Church,  a  full  liturgy,  clerical  vestments,  etc. 
Their  ministers  came  generally  from  the  Universities. 
Another  element  was  mediate  between  these. 

These  diversities  became  here  more  fully  developed, 
and  violent  controversies  broke  out.  Yet  the  organi- 
zation of  different  Synods  had  not  been  possible  had 
not  questions  and  differences  of  a  graver  nature 
arisen.  The  pietistic  and  orthodox  tendencies  might 
have  been  united  in  their  work  and  in  brotherly  love 
had  not  important  doctrinal  issues  come  to  the 
front. 

The  first  trouble  of  this  kind  "arose  with  the  first 
two  ministers  who  advocated  the  doctrines  of  Grundt- 
vig."  So  radical  a  departure  from  the  Lutheran 
doctrine  rendered  co-operation  in  work  impossible. 
The  breach  already  existing  was  greatly  widened. 

Another  conflict  turned  on  the  activity  of  laymen, 
whether  they  should  have  the  right  of  prayer  and  ex- 
hortation in  public  assemblies.  Those  of  the  Hauge 
Synod  had  always  recognized  this  right  as  inherent  in 


The  hide  pendent  Synods.  401 

the  universal  priesthood.  The  rigidly  orthodox  would 
suppress  all  such  activity.  Another  question  was  that 
of  the  Sabbath,  the  one  party  following  the  sixteenth 
century  theologians,  the  other  those  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  especially  Spener.  Many  other  important 
questions  have  created  dissension  and  caused  still 
wider  separation  :  Absolution,  "the  world's  Justifica- 
tion," and  lastly  Predestination,  which  has  now  rent 
the  "Norwegian  Synod,"  a  body  which  "has  always 
been  uncompromisingly  '  Missourian,'"  the  majority  of 
its  pastors  being  trained  at  St.  Louis,  and  which  has 
been  eminently  successful  in  educational  work  and  in 
winning  the  masses. 

These  separations  have  not  arisen  from  different  in- 
terpretations of  the  Confessions — all  accept  these  with 
one  accord.  All  are  firm  Lutherans.  The  present 
divisions  are:  Hauge  Synod,  organized  1850,  43  min- 
isters, 126  congregations,  9,222  communicants;  "Nor- 
wegian," organized  1853,  1  74  ministers,  610  congrega- 
tions, 60,684  communicants  ;  Augustana,  organized  in 
i860,  32  ministers,  80  congregations,  5,000  communi- 
cants ;  Conference,  organized  1870,101  ministers,  436 
congregations,  33,165  communicants;  Anti-Missourian, 
organized  1887,  110  ministers,  400  congregations,  and 
35,000  communicants.  The  latter  have  not  effected  a 
Synodical  organization,  but  hold  annual  meetings  and 
have  their  own   college,  seminary,  and  weekly. 

In  the  midst  of  the  warfare  long  raging,  there  have 
always  been  in  all  the  Synods  those  inclined  to  peace, 
who  have  bewailed  these  divisions  and  have  longed 
and  labored  and  prayed  for  a  better  understanding, 
for  brotherly  love  and  for  a  union  of  the  whole  Nor- 


aq2  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

wegian  Church.  Efforts  to  this  effect  have  been  made 
from  the  beginning:.  The  work  of  union  dates  back 
to  the  work  of  separation.  Conferences  for  this  pur- 
pose were  held  in  1859,  in  1863  and  in  1864. 

For  years  no  further  attempt  to  bring  the  different 
parties  together  was  witnessed  until  in  1881  when  they 
all  met  for  conference  in  St.  Ansgar,  Iowa.  The  situa- 
tion had  become  considerably  changed.  Twenty 
years  of  conflict  had  modified  the  minds  of  many. 
All  were  now  disposed  to  see  how  nearly  they  agreed 
rather  than  as  before  to  find  how  greatly  they  differed. 
The  results  of  the  meeting  were  encouraging  beyond 
what  had  been  anticipated.  Other  conferences  which 
have  been  held  annually  since  have  been  equally  pro- 
motive of  peace. 

The  greatest  impetus  was  given  to  the  union  move- 
ment in  1888,  when  a  committee  of  seven,  clerical  and 
lay,  from  each  of  the  Synods,  except  the  "  Norwegian," 
met  in  Eau  Claire,  Wis.,  for  the  purpose  of  devising  a 
plan  of  consolidation.  The  result  far  exceeded  the 
the  peoples'  expectation.  A  settlement  of  the  old 
controversies  was  effected  and  a  draft  for  a  new  con- 
stitution and  articles  of  agreement  were  drawn  up. 

A  meeting  of  representatives  from  the  congrega- 
tions for  the  consideration  of  this  plan  was  held  in 
November  1888,  at  Scandinavia,  Wis.  The  whole 
plan  with  but  few  alterations  was  unanimously 
adopted.  This  plan,  which  has  since  been  unani- 
mously adopted  by  three  bodies  at  their  annual  meet- 
ings, now  goes  to  the  congregations,  and  will  come  up 
for  final  action  at  the  next  meeting  of  each  of  the 
Synods,  which    are   to   convene   at  the   same  time  in 


The  Independent  Synods.  403 

Minneapolis.  If  approval  carries  they  can  at  once 
unite  and  form  the  new  Synod  and  organize  their  Sem- 
inary with  five  professors  as  already  agreed  upon. 

All  essential  matters  having  been  settled,  these  three 
bodies  now  look  forward  confidently  to  a  union.  The 
fourth,  Hauge's  Synod,  is  hesitating.  Still  there  is 
hope  that  when  the  Synods  come  together  in  1890,  the 
United  Synod  will  embrace  this  body  also. 

The  "  Norwegian  Synod  "  has  kept  entirely  aloof 
from  this  movement,  yet  the  hope  is  cherished  that  in 
due  time  this  body  will  also  be  one  with  the  others 
so  that  ultimately  one  United  Synod  shall  be  formed 
from  the  five  now  existing. 

DANISH  SYNODS. 

A  society  for  missionary  work  in  America  was 
founded  in  Odense,  Denmark,  October  1869.  Several 
ministers  had  previously  come  to  this  country  and 
three  more  were  now  sent  over  by  this  association. 
These  united  in  1872  in  a  Synodical  body,  known  as 
"The  Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  Amer- 
ica."  Although  passing  through  the  usual  trials  and 
conflicts,  this  body  has  made  such  progress  that  it  now 
numbers  44  ministers  and  more  than  4,000  communi- 
cants. It  supports  a  Theological  Seminary  at  West 
Denmark,  Wis.,  four  High  Schools,  an  Orphan  Home, 
an  Emigrant  House  and  a  Sailors'  Mission.  In  for- 
eign  missionary  work,  for  which  it  has  furnished  a 
missionary  and  his  wife,  it  co-operates  both  with  the 
General  Council  in  the  Telegu  field  and  with  the 
Church  of  Denmark  among  the  Tamuls  and  Sandthals. 
"The  Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  Associa- 


404  ?  hc  Lutherans  in  America. 

tion  "  was  organized  in  1884  by  some  Danish  ministers 
who  in  a  fraternal  spirit  withdrew  from  the  Norwe- 
gian-Danish Conference.  It  has  now  16  ministers, 
maintains  a  Theological  Seminary  at  Blair,  Neb., 
with  two  Professors,  and  has  sent  a  missionary  to 
Utah.  It  seems  very  desirable  that  these  two  Danish 
bodies  should  unite,  and  those  unacquainted  with  their 
difficulties  may  see  no  reason  for  their  separation,  but 
as  Rationalism  and  the  teachings  of  Grundtvio-  have 
caused  great  disturbances  in  the  Church  of  Denmark, 
sufficient  time  must  necessarily  elapse  for  all  parties 
in  this  country  to  purge  themselves  from  these  errors, 
before  the  Danish  Lutherans  can  harmoniously  and 
effectively  co-operate. 

A  vigorous  Icelandic  Association  was  organized  in 
1885  with  4  pastors  and  about  4,000  communicants. 
It  reports  now  22  congregations. 

THE  SVyOD  OF  BUFFALO. 

This  body  held  its  first  meeting  at  Milwaukee,  Wis., 
June,  1845,  four  ministers  and  eighteen  laymen  being 
in  attendance.  The  leading  spirit  was  Rev.  J.  A.  A. 
Grabau,  who  came  to  this  country  in  1839  and  estab- 
lished a  theological  school  at  Buffalo.  In  its  some- 
what  hierarchical  view  of  the  ministry  it  came  into 
conflict  with  the  Missouri  Synod.  A  colloquium  with 
representatives  from  that  body  was  held  in  1866  and 
as  a  consequence  a  number  of  the  ministers  and  con- 
gregations passed  over  into  its  bounds.  Another  sec- 
tion withdrew  about  the  same  time,  and  after  maintain- 
ing for  a  while  a  separate  organization  its  members  be- 
came   absorbed     in    different    synods.     The    original 


The  Independent  Synods.  405 

synod  consists  now  of  twenty-one  ministers,  thirty-five 
congregations,  and  five  thousand  communicants. 

THE  MICHIGAN  SYNOD. 

Which  assisted  in  the  organization  of  the  General 
Council,  withdrew  in  1888  on  account  of  dissatisfac- 
tion with  the  latter's  position  on  pulpit  and  altar 
fellowship.  It  embraces  about  forty  ministers,  fifty- 
five  congregations,  and  ten  thousand  communicants. 


CHAPTER    XII. 


THE    MISSOURIANS. 


TOWARD  the  close  of  the  third  decade  of  'the 
present  century,  those  days  of  rationalistic  rule, 
there  was  at  the  University  of  Leipzig  a  small 
circle  of  students  whom  their  academic  fellow-citizens 
termed  Mystics  or  Pietists,  or  Hypocrites  and  Obscur- 
ants. They  would  spend  the  hours  which  others  de- 
voted to  the  loud  pleasures  of  the  beer  mug,  in  the 
seclusion  of  some  quiet  room,  where  they  might  have 
been  found  closeted  with  some  obscure  volume,  the 
writings  of  Arndt,  Francke,  Spener,  Rambach,  Fresen- 
ius,  or  some  other  theologian  of  like  character.  A 
theological  candidate  of  riper  years  and  spiritual  ex- 
perience, named  Kuehn,  was  the  leader  of  this  little 
band,  and  the  path  he  endeavored  to  point  out  to  his 
associates  was  a  via  dolorosa  through  dark  depths  of 
anguish  and  contrition,  a  series  of  experiences  like 
those  through  which  he  had  passed  before  he  found 
peace  and  rest  in  Christ  Jesus. 

In  the  fall  of  1829  this  circle  welcomed  a  young 
man  of  eighteen  years,  the  son  of  a  clergyman  in  Sax- 
ony, a  youth  with  a  good  classical  education,  who  had 
until  recently  "felt  himself  born  for  music  only." 
When  his  father  declared  that  he  would  set  him  adrift 
without  a  farthing  if  he  should  "turn  musician,"  but 
promised  him  a  thaler  a  week  if  he  would  study  theol- 
ogy, the  son  set  his  face  toward  Leipzig  and  theology, 

406 


RFV.    C.     V.  W.    WU.THER,  I>.   D. 


The  Missourians.  407 

and  there  we  find  him,  young  in  years,  slender  of 
stature,  in  delicate  health,  shifting'  as  best  he  could 
with  his  thaler  a  week,  but  turning  to  every  advan- 
tage his  talents  and  opportunities. 

The  young  student  was  Carl  Ferdinand  Wilhelm 
Walther.  An  elder  brother  introduced  the  youth  to 
that  circle  of  Pietists  mentioned  above.  Soon  the 
younger  Walther  was  far  gone  in  the  direction  in 
which  the  influence  of  Kuehn  and  others  was  exerted, 
his  soul  was  filled  with  anguish  under  the  pangs  of  a 
troubled  conscience  ;  sighs  and  sobs  and  tears  gave 
evidence  of  the  storm  that  raged  in  his  bosom  and 
threatened  to  engulf  every  hope  and  to  shut  out  every 
ray  of  consoling  light  which  had  dawned  in  his  soul. 
While  he  was  struggling  with  despair  God  used  the 
gentle  hand  of  a  woman  to  draw  him  from  the  preci- 
pice. The  wife  of  a  revenue  officer  at  Leipzig,  whose 
home  had  been  opened  to  him,  perceived  the  trouble 
of  the  pious  youth,  and  from  her  lips  came  words  of 
comfort  drawn  from  the  Gospel,  and  from  her  heart 
rose  many  a  fervent  prayer  to  a  throne  of  grace  that 
the  peace  of  God,  which  passeth  all  understanding, 
might  be  granted  to  that  troubled  soul. 

God  in  his  wise  providence  led  young  Walther  to 
seek  spiritual  advice  and  consolation  also  from  an- 
other, from  a  man  who  was  in  future  years  to  be  in- 
strumental in  leading  him  across  the  ocean.  Martin 
Stephan  was  the  pastor  of  a  Bohemian  congregation 
which  worshiped  in  St.  John's  Church  at  Dresden,  a 
preacher  who  had  for  years  proclaimed  to  vast  multi- 
tudes that  flocked  to  that  unostentatious  church  in 
the  suburbs,  what  was   then    very    rarely   heard    from 


408  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

German  pulpits,  Christ  and  him  crucified.  Stephan 
was  renowned  as  a  spiritual  adviser  who  had  profound 
knowledge  of  the  human  heart  and  was  ever  ready  to 
minister  what  each  individual  soul  required.  This  man 
one  day  received  a  letter  from  a  stranger,  a  student 
at  Leipzig,  who  disclosed  to  him  his  innermost  soul 
and  solicited  an  answer.  When  the  answer  came,  Wal- 
ther  held  the  letter  in  his  hands,  and  before  he  broke 
the  seal  prayed  to  God  to  keep  him  from  accepting 
vain  counsels  and  consolations.  But  after  he  had  read 
Stephan's  letter,  he  was  like  one  who  had  been  lifted 
from  hell  into  paradise,  and  his  tears  of  anguish  were 
changed  into  tears  of  joy. 

A  year  and  another  year  passed  away,  and  then 
young  Walther's  days  seemed  nearly  numbered;  pul- 
monary disease  forced  him  to  relinquish  his  studies 
and  seek  rest  and  relief  at  home.  During  these  weary 
months  he  found  in  his  father's  library  the  works  of 
Luther,  and  here  he  laid  the  foundation  of  the  inti- 
mate acquaintance  with  the  writings  of  the  great  Re- 
former which  distinguished  him  in  later  years.  In  the 
spring  of  1832  he  returned  to  the  university,  improved 
in  health,  but  without  hope  of  ever  becoming  phys- 
ically able  to  work  in  the  ministry.  He  completed 
his  studies,  passed  his  first  examination,  and  was  then 
a  private  tutor  from  1834  to  1836.  In  1837  he  was 
ordained  to  the  ministry  in  the  village  church  of 
Braeunsdorf  in  Saxony,  amidst  a  congregation  which 
for  forty  years  and  more  had  not  heard  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  and  had  sunk  deep  in  intellectual,  moral  and 
religious  depravity.  The  form  of  public  service,  the 
hymn-book,    the    school-books,  were,   like   the  school 


The  Missourians.  409 

teacher  and  the  superintendent,  steeped  in  Rationalism, 
and  when  Walther,  true  to  his  vow  and  to  the  Sym- 
bols of  the  Lutheran  Church  which  he  had  sworn  to 
follow  and  maintain,  endeavored  to  work  a  change 
toward  sound  Lutheranism,  stumbling  blocks  without 
number  were  thrown  in  his  way,  until  his  troubled 
conscience  was  beset  on  every  side. 

Walther  was  not  the  only  Lutheran  in  Saxony  who 
suffered  under  the  rod  of  a  rationalistic  and  unionis- 
tic  regime,  and  when  in  those  days  Stephan  was  look- 
ing toward  the  United  States  of  America  as  an 
asylum  of  true  Lutheranism,  to  which  his  attention 
had  been  directed  by  Dr.  Benjamin  Kurtz  of  Balti- 
more, and  finally  came  forth  with  a  definite  plan  of 
emigration,  Walther  with  others  caught  up  the  signal. 
In  September  1838,  as  many  as  707  persons  had 
entered  their  names  upon  the  rolls  ;  ministers,  school- 
teachers, lawyers,  physicians,  artists,  gave  up  their 
positions,  married  men  and  women  left  their  husbands 
and  wives,  parents  their  children,  children  their 
parents  ;  a  part  of  their  joint  possessions  was  turned 
over  to  a  common  treasury  ;  four  ships  were  chartered 
and  a  fifth,  the  Amalia,  was  also  occupied  mostly  by 
members  of  the  company.  All  of  these  ships  left 
Bremerhafen  in  November  1838.  The  Copernicus 
arrived  at  New  Orleans  on  the  last  day  of  the  same 
year,  three  others  in  January  1839;  the  Amalia  was 
lost  with  all  on  board. 

The  passengers  continued  their  pilgrimage  to  St. 
Louis,  then  a  city  of  about  16,000  inhabitants. 
Stephan  had  prevailed  upon  his  followers  to  make 
him  their   bishop  and   to  sign  a   document    in    which 


41  o  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

they  pledged  themselves  to  allegiance  and  obedience. 
He  surrounded  himself  with  every  kind  of  luxury,  and 
during  the  few  months  of  his  rule  he  drew  from  the 
common  treasury  more  than  4,000  thalers  for  his  own 
sustenance  and  comfort.  To  secure  a  still  more  un- 
limited exercise  of  his  power,  he  aimed  at  isolating 
the  community  under  his  sway.  A  tract  of  land  was 
purchased  in  Perry  county,  Mo.,  and  here  the  emigrants 
amid  untold  hardships  began  to  build  up  a  number  of 
Saxon  colonies.  A  small  flock  remained  in  St.  Louis 
and   chose  the   elder  Walther  for  their  pastor. 

Stephan,  who  had  also  repaired  to  Perry  county, 
ruled  like  a  Pasha.  A  magnificent  episcopal  palace 
was  in  process  of  construction.  Then  came  a  revela- 
tion which  fell  like  a  thunderbolt  among  the  colonists. 
One  dark  night  the  younger  Walther  arrived  from  St. 
Louis.  To  a  young  theological  candidate  he  confided 
his  secret.  It  was  in  one  of  the  dormitories  for  the 
colonists  and,  though  all  seemed  fast  asleep,  the  con- 
versation was  carried  on  in  Latin,  and  a  physician 
lying  on  the  straw  not  far  away  heard,  what  he  and 
others  had  suspected  before,  that  Stephan  had  been 
leading  a  life  of  shameful  immorality  and  had  now 
been  found  out  through  the  confessions  of  several  of 
his  victims.  Soon  after,  a  number  of  the  emigrants 
who  had  remained  at  St.  Louis  arrived,  a  formal 
council  was  held  and  Stephan  was  solemnly  deposed 
from  his  office.  Provided  with  ample  means,  he  was 
taken  across  the  Mississippi  river  in  a  skiff  and  landed 
near  Devil's  Bake-oven,  a  grotesque  rock  at  the 
water's  edge.  He  died  in  1846  in  a  log  cabin  a  few 
miles  from  Red  Bud,  Illinois. 


The  Missouri  cms.  411 

The  colonists  were  at  first  stunned  and  bewildered. 
Such  had  been  Stephan's  extravagance  and  misman- 
agement that  the  funds  of  the  emigrants  were  far  spent, 
and  abject  poverty  stared  them  in  the  face.  The  min- 
isters and  candidates  were  troubled  by  the  question 
whether  the  colonists  constituted  Christian  conorecra- 

o        o 

tions  with  authority  to  call  ministers,  and  many  of  the 
laymen  also  entertained  doubts  concerning  the  right 
of  the  ministers  to  hold  their  office  here  after  having 
left  their  charges  beyond  the  sea.  Walther,  too,  was 
for  a  time  tossed  about  by  doubts  and  fears.  But 
better  counsels  prevailed,  and  soon  things  gained  a 
more  favorable  aspect.  In  the  midst  of  all  their 
hardships  and  poverty,  the  candidates  Fuerbringer, 
Brohm  and  Buenger,  with  the  aid  of  the  ministers, 
Walther,  Loeber  and  Keyl,  had  organized  a  school 
of  learning  in  which  Religion,  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew, 
German,  French  and  English,  History,  Geography, 
Mathematics,  Natural  Philosophy,  Natural  History, 
Mental  Philosophy  and  Music  were  to  be  taught.  In 
a  log  cabin  the  school  was  opened  which  has  since  de- 
veloped into  two  distinct  institutions,  Concordia 
Seminary  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  Concordia  College 
at  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  both  of  which  are  flourishing 
to-day  and  have  educated  hundreds  of  young  men 
for  the  ministry  in  the  Lutheran  Church.  The  first 
faculty  consisted  of  Ottomar  Fuerbringer,  Th.  Jul. 
Brohm  and  J  oh.  Fr.  Buenger,  and  the  log  cabin  has 
been  preserved  to  this  day. 

The  younger  Walther  was  soon  the  acknowledged 
leader.  Stephan  had  never  been  quite  at  ease  on 
Walther  s  account,  and  had  even  stigmatized  him  as 


41  2 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


his  Judas,  and  it  was  Walther  who  now  fought  down 
the  doctrinal  errors  which  that  hierarch  had  taught, 
that  the  Lutheran  Church  was  the  Church,  without 
which  there  was  no  salvation,  that  the  ministry  was  a 
mediatorship  between  God  and  man,  and  entitled  to 
unconditional  obedience  in  all  things  not  in  conflict 
with  the  word  of  God,  that  questions  of  doctrine  were 
to  be  decided  by  the  clergy  alone,  in  whose  hands  also 


OLD  CONCORDIA  SEMINARY,  ALTENBURG,   PERRY  CO.,   MO. 

rested  the  power  of  the  Keys.  With  convincing 
clearness  Walther  set  forth  the  truth  until  it  held  the 
field  victorious,  and  at  a  later  day,  the  weapons  tried 
and  found  true  against  Stephanism  were  again  drawn 
and  wielded  with  like  success  in  other  encounters. 

In  January,  1841,  the  elder  Walther  was  called  to 
his  rest,  and  his  brother  was  chosen  to  succeed  him  as 
pastor  of  the   "Saxons"   at   St.   Louis,  who  were  then 


The  Missourians.  413 

still  worshiping  in  the  basement  of  an  Episcopal  church. 
Both  the  congregation  and  the  parochial  school  in- 
creased rapidly,  and  in  1842  Trinity  church  was 
erected,  with  a  basement  for  school-rooms.  In  1844 
Cand.  Buenger,  who  since  1841  had  been  in  charge  of 
the  school,  became  Walther's  assistant.  In  the  same 
year  a  branch  school  was  opened  in  another  part  of 
the  city,  and  this  school  was  the  germ  of  Immanuel's 
church,  which  was  organized  in  1847  and  erected  a 
house  of  worship  in  1848,  where  henceforth  to  the 
end  of  his  days  Buenger  officiated  as  pastor.  While 
the  trowel  had  thus  been  busy,  the  sword  had  not 
rusted  in  the  scabbard.  Separatistic  elements  had 
caused  much  trouble  in  the  congregation. 

Another  conflict  of  greater  dimensions  and  of 
longer  duration  had  sprung  up.  In  1839  a  band  of 
German  Lutheran  emigrants  had  come  over  under  the 
leadership  of  Pastor  Grabau,  who  had  suffered  perse- 
cution and  imprisonment  in  Prussia  for  his  refusal  to 
submit  to  the  unionistic  policy  of  the  government.  At 
Buffalo,  where  he  had  settled  with  most  of  his  follow- 
ers, Grabau  in  1840  issued  a  "Pastoral  Letter,''  of 
which  he  sent  a  copy  to  the  Saxon  ministers  in  Mis- 
souri with  a  request  for  their  opinion.  The  request 
was  granted,  but  the  "  opinion  "  was  not  satisfactory  to 
Grabau.  In  his  "  Pastoral  Letter  "  and  the  correspond- 
ence to  which  it  gave  rise,  Grabau  maintained  that  a 
minister  not  called  in  accordance  with  the  ancient 
"  Kirchenordnungen "  was  not  properly  called;  that 
ordination  by  other  clergymen  was  by  divine  ordi- 
nance essential  to  the  validity  of  the  ministerial  office  ; 
that  God  would  deal  with  us  only  through  the  minis- 


414  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

terial  office ;  that  a  minister  arbitrarily  elevated  by 
the  congregation  was  unable  to  pronounce  absolution, 
and  what  he  distributed  at  the  altar  was  not  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ,  but  mere  bread  and  wine ;  that 
through  her  Symbols  and  Constitutions  and  Synods 
the  Church  at  large  must  decide  what  is  in  accordance 
or  at  variance  with  the  word  of  God  ;  that  the  con- 
gregation is  not  the  supreme  tribunal  in  the  Church, 
but  the  synod  as  representing  the  Church  at  large ; 
that  the  congregation  is  not  authorized  to  pronounce 
excommunication  ;  that  Christians  are  bound  to  obey 
their  minister  in  all  things  not  contrary  to  the  word 
of  God.  In  all  of  these  points  the  Saxons  differed 
from  Grabau, — denying  what  he  affirmed,  and  affirm- 
ing what  he  denied.  He  now  drew  up  a  list  of  seven- 
teen charges  of  error  against  them  and  declared  that 
he  could  no  longer  consider  them  orthodox  Lutheran 
ministers.  Thus  the  controversy  carried  on  afterwards 
between  the  Synods  of  Buffalo  and  Missouri  had 
sprung  up  years  before  either  body  had  an  existence. 

The  doctrines  which  the  Saxons  maintained  against 
Grabau  and  his  followers  were  not  only  taught  but 
practiced  in  Perry  county  and  St.  Louis  ;  the  congrega- 
tions not  only  claimed  but  exercised  what  by  divine 
right  a  Christian  congregation  should  claim  and  prac- 
tice, instead  of  leaving  it  to  the  ministry.  Church  dis- 
cipline was  exercised  in  accordance  with  Matthew  xviii; 
doctrinal  matters  were  discussed  ;  the  college  at  Al- 
tenburg  was  formally  adopted  and  considerately 
treated  as  the  foster-child  of  the  congregations. 

In  1844,  the  congregation  at  St.  Louis  resolved  on 
the  publication   of  a  religious  periodical  which   had 


The  Missourians.  415 

been  planned  by  Walther,  and  in  September  of  that 
year  the  "Lutheraner"  made  its  first  appearance.  To 
secure  the  publication  of  this  and  the  following  num- 
bers, many  members  had  subscribed  for  two  copies, 
and  the  congregation  had  agreed  that  if  the  expenses 
should  exceed  the  receipts,  the  deficit  should  be  cov- 
ered from  the  common  treasury  or  by  free  contribu- 
tions. From  its  beginning  the  "Lutheraner"  gave 
forth  a  clear,  decided,  uncompromising  ring,  and  the 
type  of  Lutheranism  which  it  advocated  was  to  the 
generation  of  those  days  a  strange  phenomenon,  so 
strange  that  by  many  it  was  not  even  recognized  as 
Lutheranism  at  all,  and  chiefly  for  this  reason  Wal- 
ther made  it  his  object  to  show  from  the  writings  of 
the  Fathers  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  that  he  was  not. 
promulgating  new  tenets,  but  the  doctrines  laid  down 
in  the  Confessions  and  in  the  writings  of  the  best 
teachers  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  This,  not  an  undue 
reverence  of  the  Fathers,  prompted  Walther  to  intro- 
duce into  his  doctrinal  expositions  numerous  extracts 
from  the  works  of  those  earlier  theologians;  not  as 
authorities  but  as  witnesses  he  called  them  forth  from 
the  dust  of  oblivion,  and  before  many  years  Germany 
was  being  ransacked  for  those  old  parchment-bound 
volumes,  and  dealers  wondered  what  people  wanted 
with  those  mummies  in  the  American  backwoods, 
whence  came  the  growing  demand  for  what  had  long 
lain  unnoticed  as  unmarketable  dross. 

Among  the  few  who  hailed  with  joy  the  first  num- 
ber of  the  "Lutheraner"  was  another  pioneer  of 
western  Lutheranism,  a  man  whose  name  will  be  pro- 
nounced with  reverence  as  lone  as  a  Lutheran  Church 


4-1 6  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

remains  in  America.  Friedrich  Conrad  Dietrich  Wyn- 
eken  landed  at  Baltimore  about  half  a  year  be- 
fore the  Saxons  trod  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi. 
He  was  a  man  of  powerful  frame  and  a  well  educated 
mind,  fiery  and  energetic,  filled  with  a  burning  zeal  to 
carry  the  Gospel  of  Christ  to  his  countrymen  in  the 
western  solitudes,  of  whose  wants  he  had  learned 
through  missionary  magazines  in  the  old  world.  He 
was  recommended  by  Rev.  Haesbaert  to  the  mission- 
ary committee  of  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
soon  the  young  missionary  is  laboring  amid  hardships 
and  privations  in  Indiana,  Ohio,  and  Michigan,  trav- 
ersing the  forests  and  prairies  on  foot  and  on  horse- 
back, in  fair  and  foul  weather,  by  day  and  by  night, 
and  sowing  the  seeds  of  life  in  a  spiritual  wilderness. 
Fort  Wayne  was  then  a  small  country  town.  The 
first  German  and  at  the  same  time  the  first  Lutheran 
who  had  settled  here  was  Henry  Rudisill,  who  with 
his  wife,  a  daughter  of  the  Henkel  family,  had  arrived 
in  this  community  of  Frenchmen  and  Indians  in  1829. 
A  Lutheran  he  would  remain,  and  by  his  endeavors  a 
current  o  f  German  immigration  was  led  to  Fort  Wayne 
and  vicinity.  In  1837  a  congregation  was  organized 
with  Rev.  Jesse  Hoover,  a  member  of  the  Pennsylva- 
nia Synod,  as  its  pastor.  But  when  in  the  fall  of  1838 
Wyneken  first  set  foot  into  the  town,  young  pastor 
Hoover  had  been  laid  to  rest.  At  the  urgent  request 
of  the  congregation  Wyneken  established  his  head- 
quarters there.  The  Lutherans  had  neither  church 
nor  parsonage;  they  worshiped  in  the  court-house 
until  the  building  threatened  to  fall,  then  here  and 
there,  until   the   little  frame  church  erected    in    1839 


The  Missourians.  417 

afforded  them  shelter.  From  Fort  Wayne  Wyneken 
extended  his  missionary  excursions,  until  a  painful  dis- 
ease of  the  throat  interrupted  his  labors.  In  1841  he 
went  to  Germany  for  treatment.  As  soon  as  his 
health  was  sufficiently  restored,  he  started  out  to  agi- 
tate the  cause  of  the  church  in  America;  by  personal 
solicitations  he  engaged  the  sympathies  of  a  number 
of  prominent  men,  and  by  public  addresses  as  well  as 
through  a  brilliant  pamphlet  he  inspired  into  thou- 
sands of  hearts  a  feeling  of  responsibility  for  the 
brethren  in  the  New  World. 

When  Wyneken  returned  in  1843,  he  had  ripened 
into  a  man  of  mature"  powers  and  of  confirmed  Lu- 
theran convictions.  It  was  in  those  days  that  the 
first  number  of  the  "  Lutheraner  "  appeared,  and  when 
Wyneken  had  perused  it,  he  joyfully  exclaimed : 
"Thank  God!  There  are  more  Lutherans  in  Amer- 
ica !  "  Soon  Wyneken  and  the  "Lutheraner"  were 
companions  in  arms,  both  being  violently  assailed 
by  the  Methodists,  the  "Lutheraner"  for  its  articles, 
Wyneken  for  his  portraiture  of  Methodism  which  had 
been  reprinted  in  America. 

Great  joy  was  also  awakened  by  the  first  number 
of  the  "Lutheraner,"  at  Pomeroy,  Ohio,  where  Dr. 
Sihler  was  then  stationed,  one  of  the  men  whom 
Wyneken  had  drawn  westward.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Synod  of  Ohio,  and  was  endeavoring  in  various 
ways  to  exert  his  influence  against  certain  features  of 
doctrine  and  practice  which  claimed  his  attention. 
One  day,  early  in  1845,  while  Sihler  was  instructing- 
catechumens,  a  horseman  alighted  at  his  door,  and  a 
moment  later  Wyneken  introduced  himself.     He  was 


The  Missourians.  419 

on  his  way  to  Baltimore,  to  succeed  his  friend  Haes- 
baert,  and  he  stopped  to  behold  the  face  of  the  man 
who  was  to  be  his  successor  at  Fort  Wayne. 

Soon  after  the  Doctor's  arrival  at  this  place,  where 
he  was  to  serve  the  Master  for  forty  years,  another 
fruit  of  Wyneken's  sojourn  in  Germany  was  planted 
in  American  soil  and  entrusted  to  the  care  of  Wyne- 
ken's successor  in  the  pastorate  of  St.  Paul's. 

Among  the  men  whom  Wyneken  had  won  to  the 
American  cause  was  Wilhelm  Loehe  of  Neuendet- 
telsau.  Loehe  had  not  only  gathered  about  him  a 
number  of  young  men  whom  he  gave  a  practical  prep- 
aration for  the  ministry  in  America,  but  he  also  con- 
ceived and  executed  the  plan  of  opening  a  seminary  for 
the  same  purpose  in  the  New  W7orld.  For  its  site  he 
selected  Fort  Wayne,  and  in  1846  he  sent  over  eleven 
young  men  together  with  a  talented  candidate  of 
theology  by  the  name  of  Roebbelen,  who  with  Dr. 
Sihler  was  to  give  these  young  men  and  others  who 
might  be  recruited  in  America,  a  training  which  would 
in  a  few  years  fit  them  for  missionary  and  pastoral 
work  among  the  Germans  in  this  country.  This  was 
the  beginning  of  the  "Practical  Seminary"  which  was 
at  a  latter  date  combined  with  the  "  Theoretical 
Seminary"  at  St.  Louis  and,  still  later,  transplanted  to 
Springfield,  111.,  where  it  is  flourishing  to-day. 

The  work  of  those  early  days  with  the  ways  and 
means  employed  by  the  pioneers,  is  on  a  more  ex- 
tended scale  and  in  a  wider  field  going  on  to-day  in 
the  Synod  of  Missouri.  Still  the  voices  of  preachers 
are  heard  in  the  wilderness  ;  traveling  missionaries 
are  traversing  the  forests   and   prairies  and  towns   of 


420  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

the  North;  South,  East,  and  West;  congregations  are 
gathered,  and  where  the  Word  is  being  preached  to 
the  old,  schools  are  opened  for  the  young;  small 
churches  are  built  at  first,  which,  in  time,  give  place  to 
larger  ones,  and,  when  the  means  of  the  congregation 
permit,  a  school-master  is  called  to  the  minister's  side, 
both  ministers  and  teachers  coming  from  the  colleges 
and  seminaries,  (a  teachers'  seminary  is  sustained  by 
the  Synod  at  Addison,  111.,)  the  humble  beginnings  of 
which  we  have  witnessed.  Purity  and  unity  of  doc- 
trine are  still  being  guarded  and  propagated  and  de- 
fended, while  brotherly  fellowship  with  others  who 
hold  the  same  ground  in  doctrine  and  practice  is  still 
sought  and  cherished,  as  it  was  sought  and  cherished 
by  Walther  and  Wyneken  and  their  brethren  in  the 
"  colonial "  period. 

In  the  spring  of  1846,  Dr.  Sihler  and  two  other 
ministers  had  a  conference  with  Walther  and  other 
Saxon  ministers  at  St.  Louis.  Sihler  had  severed  his 
connection  with  the  Synod  of  Ohio.  Wyneken  had 
given  strength  to  the  movement  at  a  conference  held 
at  Cleveland  in  1845.  The  formation  of  a  synod  was 
now  taken  into  consideration  by  the  congregation  at 
St.  Louis  and  the  clergymen  there  assembled.  In 
nine  meetings  the  draft  of  a  constitution,  in  which 
every  vestige  of  hierarchical  leaven  had  been  most 
carefully  avoided,  was  discussed.  A  similar  confer- 
ence was  held  in  July  of  the  same  year  at  Fort  Wayne. 
Sixteen  ministers  were  present.  Six  others  had  signi- 
fied their  full  sympathy.  The  constitution  with  a  few 
modifications  being  approved,  it  was  resolved  to  com- 
plete the  formal    organization    at    Chicago    in    April 


File  Missourians.  421 

1847.  There  the  "German  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Synod  of  Missouri,  Ohio,  and  other  States"  was 
formed  by  twelve  congregations,  twenty-two  ministers 
and  two  candidates.  Under  the  constitution  which 
was  adopted  and  signed  at  this  meeting  and,  with  a 
few  alterations,  is  in  force  to-day,  only  those  ministers 
whose  congregations  had  entered  into  membership 
with  the  Synod,  and  the  lay  delegates  by  whom  con- 
gregations were  represented,  were  entitled  to  suffrage, 
other  ministers  being  only  advisory  members.  The 
"  Lutheraner "  was  made  the  official  orean  of  the 
Synod  with  Walther  as  editor.  A  missionary  com- 
mittee was  chosen,  and  various  other  measures  gave 
evidence  of  the  earnestness  with  which  the  assembly 
entered  upon  the  task  of  building  up  Zion  in  the  land 
of  their  pilgrimage. 

Here,  then,  was  a  Lutheran  synod  which  declared  in 
its  constitution  that  the  acceptance  of  all  the  Symbols 
of  the  Lutheran  Church  without  exception  or  reserve, 
abstinence  from  every  kind  of  syncretism,  from  mixed 
congregations  and  mixed  services  and  communions, 
a  permanent,  not  temporary  or  licensed,  ministry,  the 
use  of  purely  Lutheran  books  in  churches  and  schools, 
should  be  and  remain  conditions  of  membership  with 
this  body,  but  which,  on  the  other  hand,  claimed  no 
authority  over  the  congregations  connected  with  it, 
thus  leaving  intact  the  freedom  of  the  churches. 

At  Chicago  a  resolution  was  passed  to  invite  pastor 
Loehe  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  coming  year, 
which  was  to  be  held  at  St.  Louis.  Loehe  did  not 
come,  but  letters  arrived  which  announced  that 
another  wish  had    been    fulfilled  ;    Loehe    had    made 


422  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

over  to  the  Synod  the  Seminary  at  Fort  Wayne. 
The  cordial  friendship  between  him  and  Missouri  con- 
tinued for  several  years.  But  doctrinal  difficulties 
arose.  In  a  pamphlet  which  Loehe  published  in  1849 
he  spoke  of  the  ministerial  office  in  terms  very  much 
like  those  of  Grabau.  About  the  same  time  letters 
to  Loehe  from  America  presented  the  Missourians 
in  an  unfavorable  light,  and  he  soon  entertained 
thoughts  of  gaining  a  new  basis  for  his  operations  in 
America.  Several  Franconian  colonies  had  been 
planted   in    the   Sagi-   —  -  ^zl" 

naw  valley  under   his  1 

guidance,  and  in  [850  jSllfcfL   *l 

he  matured  a  plan  for 

erecting  a   "Pilger-  '  '  !  f ^  if  1M:  S 

haus"    at    Saginaw,    a 
peculiar    combination   ,  •    ph; 
of  a  temporary  home   |t; 

for    colonists,    a   hos-  SS^^^:\  •- — r  ! 

p  i  t  a  1,  a  theological 
seminary,  all  united 
in  a  little  common- 
wealth which  was  to  be  regulated  by  a  liturgical  rule 
that  would  give  it  the  character  of  "  a  kind  of  protest- 
ant  cloister."  For  its  management  and  the  leader- 
ship of  the  work  to  be  centered  there,  Loehe  had 
singled  out  a  talented  young  theologian,  Gottlieb 
Schaller,  who  after  completing  his  theological  studies 
at  the  University  of  Erlangen  had  gained  renown  as 
a  teacher  and  preacher.  Loehe  had  in  1848  directed 
him  to  America,  and  although  he  had  in  1849  joined 
the    Missouri    Synod,    Loehe    still    hoped   to   see  his 


£LAt.lPi  ~  ■_  i 

EVANGELICAL  LUTHERAN  HOSPITAL,  ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 


The  Missourians.  423 

Timothy  in  the  position  which  he  now  held  out  to 
him.  But  at  the  Synod  in  1850,  Schaller  was,  after  a 
warm  and  protracted  discussion,  fully  convinced  of 
Loehe's  errors,  and  afterwards  he  labored  for  many 
years  by  Walther's  side  as  minister  of  Trinity  church 
and  Professor  of  Theology  in  the  Seminary  at  St. 
Louis,  where  they  were  both  laid  to  rest  in  1887. 

The  "  Pilgerhaus,"  was  opened  in  1852.  It  was 
afterwards  removed  to  Iowa,  and  with  it  went  Loehe's 
heart,  who  thus  virtually  became  the  founder  of  the 
Iowa  Synod. 

The  Synod  had  spared  no  endeavors  to  prevent  the 
impending  rupture  between  Missouri  and  the  man 
who  had  done  so  much  for  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
the  West.  In  1851  the  matter  was  laid  before  the 
Synod  convened  at  Milwaukee,  and  so  important  did 
the  continuation  of  friendship  and  fraternal  co-opera- 
tion with  Loehe  appear  to  the  Missourians,  that  a 
delegation  was  sent  to  Germany  on  a  mission  of 
peace.  One  of  the  delegates  was  Walther,  then  Pro- 
fessor of  Theology  and  President  of  Concordia  Col- 
lege. The  other  delegate  was  Wyneken,  one  of 
Loehe's  dearest  friends  and  a  man  eminently  fitted 
for  this  task.  But  though  many  difficulties  were  over- 
come, a  complete  understanding  was  not  reached  by 
the  interviews  between  Loehe  and  the  American  dele- 
gates ;  the  kind  feelings  which  were  renewed  were 
but  of  brief  duration  ;  and  the  new  synod  which  grew 
up  under  the  influence  of  Neuendettelsau  shared 
Loehe's  doctrinal  positions  and  his  antagonism  to 
Missouri. 

Among  the   points   at   issue  between  the  Synods  of 


424  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

Iowa  and  Missouri,  were  the  doctrines  of  the  Church, 
Missouri  holding  that  the  Church  of  Christ  is  invisi- 
ble, while  Iowa  recognized  a  visible  and  an  invisible 
side;  "open  questions,"  with  which  Iowa  classed  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church,  the  Ministry,  Chiliasm,  Anti- 
christ, while  Missouri  maintained  that  these  doctrines 
are  clearly  set  forth  in  Scriptures  and  therefore  are 
in  no  sense  open  questions;  Antichrist,  of  whom  Mis- 
souri affirmed  that  he  is  the  Roman  pontiff  while  Iowa 
held  that  the  Antichrist  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word 
is  an  individual  person  yet  to  be  expected  ;  Chiliasm, 
which  Missouri  rejected  in  its  subtle  as  well  as  in  its 
crass  forms,  while  Iowa  held  that  not  every  form  of 
Chiliasm  must  be  rejected  ;  the  question  to  what  ex- 
tent subscription  to  the  symbols  of  the  Church  enjoins 
the  acceptance  of  the  doctrines  laid  down  in  such  sym- 
bols, Missouri  holding-  that  one  who  subscribes  the 
symbols  unconditionally  thereby  declares  acceptance 
of  all  the  doctrines  laid  down  in  them,  while  Iowa 
claimed  that  to  be  of  binding  force  a  doctrine  must  be 
stated  in  the  symbols  ex  pi'ofesso,  not  only  occasion- 
ally, and  that,  therefore,  a  distinction  must  be  made 
between  the  doctrines  contained  in  the  Symbolical 
Books.  These  points  were  discussed  in  a  colloquy  by 
representatives  of  both  synods  who  met  at  Milwaukee 
in  1867,  but  no  satisfactory  result  was  reached. 

A  similar  "colloquium  "  had,  in  1866,  been  brought 
about  between  representatives  of  the  Buffalo  Synod 
and  that  of  Missouri.  Grabau  had  branded  Walther 
and  his  followers  as  heretics.  Walther  had,  in  1852, 
published  his  book  on  "the  Church  and  the  Minis- 
terial Office,"  which  had  previously  been  approved  by 


The  Missourians.  425 

the  Synod.  In  this  book  Walther  showed  by  numer- 
ous extracts  from  the  Symbols  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
and  from  the  writings  of  her  orthodox  teachers,  what 
former  centuries  had  voiced  forth  as  the  Lutheran 
doctrine  on  these  subjects.  Now,  shortly  after  Gra- 
bau  had  left  his  own  synod,  three  ministers  and  as 
many  laymen  of  each  synod  met  at  Buffalo,  and  when 
in  February,  1867,  twelve  ministers  of  the  Buffalo 
Synod  were  assembled  at  Buffalo  with  five  Missouri- 
ans, a  formal  recognition  of  fraternal  unity  was  sealed 
and  the  near  future  saw  eleven  of  them  members  of 
the  Synod  of  Missouri. 

In  1872  the  Synod  celebrated  its  twenty-fifth  anni- 
versary. The  meetings  were  held  in  Mercantile  Li- 
brary Hall  at  St.  Louis,  and  here  it  appeared  to  all 
eyes  that  conventions  of  all  the  ministers  and  school 
teachers  and  of  lav  delegates  from  all  the  conereo-a- 
tions  were  no  longer  practicable.  The  Synod  then 
numbered  four  hundred  and  twenty-eight  ministers  and 
two  hundred  and  fifty-one  school  teachers,  and  the 
numbers  were  fast  increasing.  It  was  therefore  de- 
cided  that  thenceforth  from  two  to  seven  con«reora- 
tions  should  delegate  one  minister  and  one  layman  to 
the  triennial  meetings  of  the  general  body,  which  had 
years  ago  been  divided  into  four  district  synods. 

At  this  jubilee  meeting  there  was  also  discussed  the 
draft  of  the  constitution  of  the  Synodical  Conference, 
a  union  of  Lutheran  Synods  which  was  soon  after,  in 
July,  1872,  completed  at  Milwaukee.  The  synods 
which  were  represented  at  the  first  meeting  were  those 
of  Ohio,  Missouri,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  Illinois,  and 
the  Norwegian  Synod,  which  had  previously  by  collo- 


426  The  Lutherans  in  Aynerica. 

quiums  between  representatives  convinced  themselves 
of  each  other's  orthodoxy.  The  Synod  of  Illinois  was 
afterwards  merged  into  that  of  Missouri.  For  a  nam- 
ber  of  years,  the  synods  worked  together  in  harmony 
of  faith,  until  the  great  "  predestinarian  controversy" 
led  to  a  rupture  which  has  not  yet  been  healed. 

This  controversy  did  not  come  unforeseen.  On 
the  floor  of  the  Synod  in  1872  a  hard  struggle  had 
been  predicted,  and  when  the  new  decade  was  ushered 
in  the  struggle  had  begun.  It  was  Prof.  Schmidt  who 
first  within  the  Synodical  Conference  raised  his  voice  in 
public  against  the  doctrine  of  predestination  as  set 
forth  in  the  reports  of  1877  and  1879  of  the  Western 
District  of  the  Missouri  Synod.  He  directed  his 
attack  especially  against  the  position  held  by  Wal- 
ther  and  the  Synod,  that  God's  predestination  is  a 
cause  of  our  salvation  and  of  everything  thereto  per- 
taining, faith  and  perseverance  in  faith  not  excepted, 
that  in  the  decree  of  predestination  the  faith  of  the 
elect  was  not  presupposed,  but  included.  The  contest 
soon  waxed  very  hot.  Walther  and  the  Missourians 
were  desirous  of  bringing  about  an  understanding, 
and  in  January  1881,  the  theological  Faculties  and 
the  Presidents  of  synods  and  district  synods  in  the 
Synodical  Conference  responded  to  a  call  for  a  col- 
loquium at  Milwaukee.  When  five  days  of  earnest 
debate  had  brought  the  dissenting  parties  no  nearer 
to  each  other,  and  the  representatives  of  Ohio  could 
remain  no  longer,  the  colloquy  was  closed.  As  the 
controversy  proceeded,  the  doctrine  of  conversion 
came  to  the  foreground.  Missouri  maintained  that 
conversion  is  the  work  of  divine  grace  alone,  wrought 


428  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

through  the  means  of  grace,  which,  though  they  come 
with  equal  power  and  earnestness  to  all,  do  not  attain 
the  same  results  in  all  ;  but  that  this  mystery  must 
not  be  explained  away  by  denying  with  Calvin  the 
earnest  will  of  God  to  convert  all,  nor  by  denying  the 
utter  depravity  which  incapacitates  all  alike  to  concur 
in  their  own  conversion  ;  that  the  conversion  of  sin- 
ners rests  in  God's  grace  alone,  and  they  can  in  no 
way  or  measure  be  credited  with  their  own  conversion; 
that  the  non-conversion  of  sinners  rests  in  their  own 
hardness  of  heart  alone,  and  God  is  in  no  wise  the 
cause  of  their  non-conversion.  The  other  side  held 
that  the  effect  wrought  by  the  grace  of  God  in  the 
work  of  conversion  depended  in  a  measure  on  man's 
conduct  toward  the  means  of  grace,  which  Missouri  re- 
jects as  synergistic,  while  Ohio  denounces  Missouri's 
position  as  Calvinistic. 

The  controversy  led  to  the  separation  of  Ohio  and 
the  Norwegians  from  the  Confrencethe  latter  serverino 
their  connection  in  the  hope  of  meeting  with  less  diffi- 
culty in  overcoming  the  commotion  which  this  contro- 
versy had  created  within  their  own  Synod. 

Great  inward  profit  accrued  to  the  Synod  of  Mis- 
souri and  the  synods  still  connected  with  it  in  the 
Synodical  Conference  from  this  controversy.  Hun- 
dreds and  thousands  of  its  members  were  led  to  a 
deeper  and  clearer  understanding  of  the  truths  at 
issue,  and  a  habit  of  careful  and  extended  research 
in  the  Scriptures  and  the  Symbols  was  deepened  and 
strengthened  in  many,  both  ministers  and  laymen. 

Nor  was  the  outward  progress  of  the  Synod  stayed 
by   the   great  controversy.      From    1878    to    1888   the 


The  Missourians.  429 

Synod  well  nigh  doubled  the  number  of  its  minis- 
ters. The  Joint  Synod  at  present  consists  of  thirteen 
District  Synods,  which  embrace  the  entire  Union. 
The  number  of  ministers,  according-  to  the  statistics 
of  1888,  is  1030,  the  number  of  school  teachers  617, 
that  of  conoreo-ations,  not  includinof  unorganized  mis- 
sions,  1,480,  that  of  communicant  members,  at  a  low 
estimate,  279,150.  The  missions  of  the  Synod  are  the 
Home  Missions  carried  on  amone  the  Germans  in 
this  country  by  the  District  Synods,  Emigrant  Mis- 
sions in  New  York  and  Baltimore,  Missions  among 
the  Jews,  English  Missions,  and  conjointly  with  other 
synods  of  the  Synodical  Conference,  a  Negro  Mission. 
The  higher  institutions  of  learning  for  the  education 
of  ministers  and  school  teachers  are,  besides  those 
mentioned  in  the  narrative  and  still  in  operation,  a 
college  at  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  a  preparatory  collegiate 
institute  at  Concordia,  Mo.,  and  another  in  New 
York.  In  these  schools  upward  of  900  students  were 
in  1888  instructed  by  40  professors.  Of  benevolent 
institutions,  there  are  within  the  Synod  an  institute  for 
the  deaf  and  dumb  at  Norris,  Mich.,  eleven  asylums 
for  orphans  and  invalids,  and  several  hospitals.  The 
periodicals  of  the  Synod  are  "Der  Lutheraner,"  "  Lehre 
und  Wehre,"  "Homiletical  Magazine,"  and  "  Schul- 
blatt "  ;  of  the  Synodical  Conference,  the  "  Missions- 
taube  "  and  the  "  Lutheran  Pioneer  ;  "  besides,  eight 
religious  periodicals  published  by  conferences,  socie- 
ties, or  individuals.  The  Synod  publishes  its  own 
hymn-books,  school-books,  Bibles,  prayer-books,  etc., 
all  of  which  with  the  periodicals  and  a  voluminous 
theological  literature  contained  in  the  synodical  reports 


43Q 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


and  other  publications  in  the  form  of  books  and  pam- 
phlets, issue  from  the  Synod's  Concordia  Publishing 
House,  the  total   receipts  of  which   in    1888  were  over 

$152,357. 

Of  the  patriarchs  of   the    Missouri  Synod   but  few 

remain.     Wyneken  was  President  of  the  Joint  Synod 

from    1850  to  1864,   when   Walther  was  again  elected 

to  this   office.      In    1876  Wyneken,   after  a   protracted 

illness,  fell  peacefully  asleep  in  Jesus  at  San  Francisco, 

Cal.     Walther  was  considerately  relieved  of  the  presi- 


CONCORDIA   PUBLISHING    HOUSE,    ST.    LOUIS,    MO. 


dency  in  1878;  yet  the  eve  of  his  life  was  a  time  of 
vigorous  activity  in  the  service  of  the  Master.  He 
wrote  copiously  for  the  press;  he  presented  theses  at 
synodical  meetings,  at  which  he  was  eminently  the 
theological  teacher  ;  he  was  regular  in  his  lectures  to 
the  students  of  the  seminary.  When  at  the  meeting 
of  the  Western  District  in  1886  he  had  completed  a 
series  of  eloquent  theological  discussions,  each  of 
which  had  lasted  several  hours,  he  closed  with  tears 
and    in   faltering  accents ;  he  felt   that    his   work  was 


The  Missourians.  431 

done.  His  physical  energies  were  fast  failing,  and  the 
Synod  unanimously  resolved  that  he  should  rest. 

Time  passed  on,  and  the  venerable  Doctor  was 
slowly  but  steadily  sinking,  and  while  the  Joint  Synod 
was  in  session  at  Fort  Wayne,  on  the  7th  of  May, 
1887,  the  Lord  called  His  weary  servant  to  his  eternal 
rest.  Thousands  from  the  Missouri  and  sister  synods, 
who  had  come  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  formed 
the  greatest  funeral  procession  St.  Louis  has  wit- 
nessed, as  they  followed  the  precious  dust  of  this  great 
man  in  Israel  to  its  last  repose. 

Of  the  other  members  of  the  Synodical  Conference 
the  Synod  of  Wisconsin  numbers  140  ministers,  and 
50  teachers  of  parish  schools.  It  has  a  prosperous 
college  at  Watertown,  Wis.,  and  a  Theological  Semi- 
nary at  Milwaukee,  and  embraces  about  70.000  com- 
municants. Its  official  publications  are  the  "  Gemeinde 
Blatt,"  and  "  Schulzeitung."  The  Synod  of  Minnesota 
comprises  51  ministers,  18  teachers  and  12,000  com- 
municants, has  a  college  and  theological  seminary 
combined  at  New  Ulm,  Minn.,  and  publishes  the  "Sy- 
nodal-Bote." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


THE    GENERAL    COUNCIL. 


IT  would  be  an  error  to  suppose  that  the  spirit  of  dis- 
integration was  back  of  the  internal  differences  and 
external  circumstances  which  led  to  the  disruption 
of  the  General  Synod  in  1866.  On  the  contrary  the 
spirit  of  unification,  "a  hearty  desire  for  the  unity  of 
Zion,"  exerted  undoubtedly  a  powerful  influence  in  de- 
termining this  result. 

The  time  seemed  ripe  for  a  general  organization  of 
the  Lutheran  Church,  national  in  its  scope  and  com- 
prehending all  the  numerous  Lutheran  bodies,  Ameri- 
can and  foreign,  that  receive  unequivocally  the  Augs- 
burg Confession.  Several  of  the  largest  synods  had 
just  separated  from  the  General  Synod.  The  South- 
ern Synods,  after  the  dissolution  of  the  Confederacy, 
were  ready,  it  was  hoped,  to  enter  again  into  organic 
fellowship  with  the  Northern  churches,  and  they  might 
for  various  reasons  prefer  to  ally  themselves  to  a  new 
body  rather  than  rejoin  the  old  one.  The  recognized 
leaders  of  the  Pennsylvania,  New  York  and  Pittsburg 
Synods  had,  by  the  course  which  they  pursued,  reached 
a  good  understanding  with  the  representatives  of  the 
Joint-Ohio,  Iowa  and  Tennessee  Synods.  Even  Dr. 
Walther  of  the  Missouri  Synod  expressed  his  great  joy 
over  the  action  of  the  Pennsylvania  Synod  in  with- 
drawing from  the  General  Synod — a  step  which  he 
held  "will  undoubtedly  be  connected  with  consequen- 

433 


*1I£V.  C.  I».  KRAITTH,  ».  ».,  H,.  ». 


The  General  Council.  433 

ces  not  only  of  the  utmost  importance,  but  also  of  the 
most  salutary  character."  The  administration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  to  a  number  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Synod's  delegates  by  the  pastor  of  a  Missouri  Church 
at  Fort  Wayne,  during  the  memorable  convention  of 
1866,  was  regarded  as  significant.  The  co-operation 
of  the  large  Scandinavian  element  might  also  be  con- 
fidently anticipated.  It  was  an  inspiring  prospect,  a 
consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished,  the  union  of  the 
various  powerful  bodies  which  vied  with  each  other  in 
emphasizing  the  historic  faith  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 
Then,  too,  synods  still  incorporated  with  the  General 
Synod  gave  a  clear  recognition  to  the  Augustana,  and 
embraced  men  who  were  profoundly  convinced  that 
the  duty,  the  wisdom  and  the  glory  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  this  country,  require  the  retention  of  those 
distinctive  features  in  doctrine  and  cultus  which  have 
ever  been  her  life's  blood  and  breath. 

Accordingly  at  the  one  hundred  and  nineteenth  con- 
vention of  the  Pennsylvania  Ministerium,  1866,  a  fra- 
ternal address  was  issued  '  to  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Synods,  ministers  and  congregations  in  the  United 
States  and  Canadas,  which  confess  the  Unaltered 
Augsburg  Confession,  inviting  them  to  unite  in  a  con- 
vention for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  union  of  Luther- 
an Synods." 

This  call  urged  "the  needs  of  a  general  organiza- 
tion, first  and  supremely  for  the  maintenance  of  unity 
in  the  true  faith  of  the  Gospel,  and  in  the  uncorrupted 
Sacraments,  as  the  Word  of  God  teaches  and  our 
Church  confesses  them  ;  and  furthermore  for  the  pres- 
ervation  of   her  genuine   spirit  and  worship,  and  for 


434  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

the  development  of  her  practical  life  in  all  its  forms." 
"A  great  necessity  is  therefore  laid  upon  us,  in  the 
Providence  of  God,  at  once  to  take  steps  to  meet  a 
want,  which  has  been  so  urgent,  and  the  painful  con- 
sciousness of  which  continually  grows."  "The  condi- 
tion and  wants  of  our  Church  in  this  land,  make  it 
clear  that  we  are  not  moving  in  this  matter  on  insuf- 
ficient or  doubtful  grounds.  With  our  communion  of 
millions  scattered  over  a  vast  and  ever-widening  ter- 
ritory, with  the  ceaseless  tide  of  immigration  to  our 
shores,  with  the  diversity  of  surrounding  usages  and 
of  religious  life,  with  our  various  nationalities  and 
tongues,  our  crying  need  of  faithful  ministers,  our  im- 
perfect provision  for  any  and  all  of  the  urgent  wants 
of  the  Church,  there  is  danger  that  the  genuinely 
Lutheran  elements  may  become  gradually  alienated, 
*  *  *  that  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond  of 
peace  may  be  lost,  and  that  our  church,  which  alone  in 
the  history  of  Protestantism  has  maintained  a  genuine 
catholicity  and  unity,  should  drift  into  the  sectarian- 
ism and  separatism  which  characterize  and  curse  our 
land." 

"Apart  from  these  extraordinary  reasons,  our  gen- 
eral vocation  as  a  Church,  the  interest  of  foreign  and 
home  missions,  of  theological,  collegiate  and  congre- 
gational education,  of  institutions  of  beneficence,  of  a 
sound  religious  literature,  all  demand  such  an  organ- 
ization as  shall  enable  our  whole  Church  in  this  land 
in  its  varied  tongues,  to  work  together  in  the  unity  of 
a  pure  faith." 

No  favorable  response  to  this  Fraternal  Address 
came  from  any  synod  still  identified  with  the  General 


The  General  Council.  435 

Synod,  but  representatives  from  the  Synod  of  Penn- 
sylvania, the  English,  English  District,  and  Joint 
Synods  of  Ohio,  from  the  Wisconsin,  Michigan,  Pitts- 
burg, Minnesota,  Iowa,  Missouri,  Canada,  New  York, 
and  the  Norwegian  Synods,  assembled  at  Reading, 
December  11,  1866.  The  Augustana  Synod  was  rep- 
resented by  letter.  The  president  of  the  temporary 
organization  was  Rev.  Professor  W.  F.  Lehman  of  the 
Joint  Synod  of  Ohio,  of  the  permanent  convention, 
Rev.  G.  Bassler  of  the  Pittsburg  Synod,  two  names 
that  will  long  be  endeared  to  the  Lutheran  Church 
for  their  living  exemplification  of  its  faith  and  spirit. 

The  preliminary  step  toward  effecting  an  organiza- 
tion was  the  unanimous  adoption  of  the  "Funda- 
mental principles  of  Faith  and  Church  Polity."  A 
committee  was  appointed  to  outline  a  constitution  to 
be  submitted  to  the  respective  District  Synods. 
Whenever  ten  of  them  should  have  accepted  this,  it 
was  provided  that  it  shall  at  once  go  into  effect  and  a 
convention  be  called  under  it,  whose  title  shall  be 
"The  General  Council  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church  in  America." 

The  requisite  number  of  synods  adopted  the  consti- 
tution and  the  first  convention  met  accordingly,  No- 
vember 20, 1867,  at  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  where  the  divis- 
ion of  the  General  Synod  had  occurred  the  previous 
year.  Twelve  were  represented.  The  several  districts 
of  the  Missouri  Synod  sent  a  communication  proposing 
a  series  of  free  conferences  before  consummating  an 
organic  union.  The  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio  also  de- 
clined to  adopt  the  constitution  but  "sent  delegates 
to  sit   in  conference  on  such   subjects  of  difference  as 


The   General  Council.  437 

may  exist."  While  heartily  desiring  a  union  of  Lu- 
theran Synods,  this  body  saw  practical  difficulties  in 
the  way,  on  account  of  which  it  could  not  yet  form  a 
connection  with  the  General  Council.  Relative  to 
such  difficulties  it  asked  for  an  answer  on  the  follow- 
ing points  : 

First. — What  relation  will  this  venerable  body  in 
future  sustain  to  Chiliasm  ? 

Second. — Mixed  Communion? 

Third. — The  exchanging  of  pulpits  with  sectarians? 

Fourth. — Secret  or  unchurchly  Societies? 

The  delegates  of  the  Synod  of  Iowa  offered  a  com- 
munication of  similar  import  with  the  exception  of 
question  first,  proposing  that  the  Council  officially  re- 
nounce church  fellowship  with  such  as  are  not  Luther- 
an, that  it  exclude  from  synodical  connection, from  the 
communion  and  from  the  pulpit,  all  who  are  ,:  not 
purely  Lutheran,"  and  asking  for  the  enforcement  of 
this  principle  against  the  practice  implied  in  the  three 
last  questions  given  above. 

The  answer  given  to  this  paper  was  to  the  effect 
that  the  Council  was  not  prepared  to  endorse  the  po- 
sition of  the  Iowa  Synod,  but  would  "refer  the  matter 
to  the  District  Synods  until  such  time  as  by  the 
blessing  of  God's  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  leadings  of 
his  Providence,  we  shall  be  enabled,  throughout  the 
whole  General  Council  and  all  its  churches,  to  see  eye 
to  eye  in  all  the  details  of  practice  and  usage." 

The  Iowa  Synod  holding  that  there  must  be  com- 
plete and  hearty  agreement  not  only  in  the  principles 
of  faith,  "but  also  in  an  ecclesiastical  practice  accord- 
ant with  such  faith,"   refused  to   complete  its   connec- 


438  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

tion  with  the  Council,  its  representatives  contenting 
themselves  with  the  privilege  of  debate  at  its  conven- 
tions, which  they  continue  to  enjoy.  For  similar 
reasons  the  Synods  of  Ohio  and  Missouri  decided  not 
to  enter  into  the  union,  and  a  few  years  later  the 
Synods  of  Illinois,  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota  con- 
cluded to  withdraw  from  it. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  famous  "Four  Points" 
which  have  gained  a  historic  interest  in  the  Lutheran 
Church.  They  became  a  most  important  factor  in 
the  development  of  the  General  Council,  arresting 
in  its  very  first  convention  the  realization  of  the 
original  plan  of  its  founders,  and  in  no  small  degree 
"damping  the  bright  and  perhaps  somewhat  sanguine 
expectations  of  its  warmest  friends,"  while  they  kept 
the  body  for  years  in  constant  agitation. 

On  the  doctrinal  basis,  which  "  accepts  and  acknowl- 
edges the  doctrines  of  the  Unaltered  Augsburg  Con- 
fession in  its  orio-inal  sense  as  throughout  in  conform- 
ity  with  the  pure  truth  of  which  God's  Word  is  the 
only  rule,"  and  holds  that  "the  other  Confessions  of 
the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  inasmuch  as  they 
set  forth  none  other  than  its  system  of  doctrine,  and 
articles  of  faith,  are  of  necessity  pure  and  scriptural," 
there  was  entire  and  spontaneous  unanimity  among  all 
those  Synods  now  for  the  first  time  brought  into 
official  and  fraternal  contact.  The  same  is  true  of 
their  reception  of  the  Fundamental  Principles  of  Faith 
and  Church  Polity,  but  when  it  came  to  the  applica- 
tion and  enforcement  of  these  principles,  the  disagree- 
ment was  so  decided  that  the  Council  was  after  all 
able   to   rally   less  than   half  of  the  great   Lutheran 


The  General  Council.  439 

community  which  had  heretofore  maintained  independ- 
ent and  isolated  organizations. 

The  wide  chasm  which  now  appeared  between  these 
bodies  and  the  General  Council,  was  in  the  first  place, 
as  stated  by  Prof.  Spaeth,  "the  natural  result  of  the 
historical  development,  through  which  those  various 
sections  of  the  Church  had  passed,  which  now  en- 
deavored to  form  an  organic  union.  The  Lutheran 
Church  in  the  Eastern  part  of  our  country,  having 
been  founded  about  150  years  ago,  had  passed  through 
all  the  different  stages  of  church  life,  suffering  and 
death,  by  which  the  history  of  the  Church  and  Theol- 
ogy of  the  German  Fatherland  was  characterized  in 
that  period.  We  need  not  be  surprised  to  find  that 
during  this  time  many  things  had  crept  in,  which  were 
in  conflict  with  the  spirit  and  Confession  of  our 
Church.  Over  against  those  things  the  renewed 
appreciation  of  the  Lutheran  Confession  and  the 
honest  return  to  the  same  was  of  comparatively  recent 
date.  It  was  therefore  not  to  be  expected  that  there 
should  have  been  on  all  sides  at  the  very  outset  a 
thorough  insight  into  all  the  consequences  and  obli- 
gations of  a  decided  and  consistent  adoption  of  the 
Lutheran  Confession.  On  the  other  hand  most  of 
the  Lutheran  Synods  of  the  West  had  been  founded 
at  a  much  more  favorable  season.  Out  of  the  very 
fullness  and  freshness  of  the  revived  Confession, 
partly  even  in  the  martyr  spirit  of  a  persecuted 
church,  have  their  foundations  been  laid  and  their 
structures  raised.  Accordingly  their  whole  conorecra- 
tional  life  could  much  more  easily  and  more  consist- 
ently be    organized   on  the  principles  established  in 


44-0  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

the  Confession,  and  many  evils  could  be  excluded 
which  in  other  places  had  taken  root  and  had  been 
growing  for  nearly  a  century." 

The  first  and  supreme  interest  kept  in  view  in  the 
formation  of  the  General  Council  being  that  of  purity 
of  doctrine  and  the  development  of  a  sound  cultus  and 
practice  from  this  source,  that  subject  has  in  the  main 
absorbed  the  discussions  of  its  annual  conventions 
and  the  literary  activity  of  its  teachers.  In  this 
sphere  it  has  rendered  invaluable  services,  the  whole 
Church  appreciating  its  contribution  to  the  knowledge 
of  Lutheran  teaching  and  Lutheran  history. 

From  the  beginning  the  Council  has  considered  it 
one  of  the  great  tasks  to  be  accomplished  by  it  that 
the  different  lan£uaores  and  nationalities  "should  be 
firmly  knit  together  in  this  New  World  in  the  unity  of 
one  and  the  same  pure  faith."  Recognizing  the  language 
of  the  country,  and  holding  that  Lutheranism  is  bound 
and  is  able  to  preserve  its  faith  and  its  spirit  in  an 
English  garb,  its  pastors  and  churches  were  from  the 
first  entreated  "to  suffer  no  distinction  of  language  to 
interfere  with  the  great  work  which  God  has  assigned 
to  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  this  country." 
And  its  success  in  the  practical  co-ordination  of  lan- 
guages and  nationalities  is  not  only  without  a  parallel, 
but  commends  itself  as  a  marvellous  and  glorious 
achievement.  Diversities  of  language,  diversities  of 
gifts,  but  the  same  Spirit,  was  the  watchword  of  the 
Apostolic  Church,  and  the  spectacle  of  the  German, 
the  Scandinavian  and  the  American  elements  so 
widely  separated  by  language,  nationality  and  training, 
standing  together   and  working   harmoniously  in   one 


The  General  Council.  441 

ecclesiastical  body  "without  giving  and  taking  offence, 
provoking  and  encouraging  one  another  to  appropri- 
ate the  good  features  found  in  each,"  recalls  the  day 
of  Pentecost,  rebukes  the  sects  which  make  the  Ameri- 
canization of  the  Lutheran  immigrants  the  pretext  for 
their  proselyting  devices,  and  offers  to  Lutherans,  in 
particular,  one  of  the  most  cheering  pledges  of  the 
rapid  and  wide  enlargement  of  their  Church.  Al- 
though the  German  and  Scandinavian  languages  are 
used  in  perhaps  a  majority  of  the  congregations,  and 
these  laneuaees  have  full  rights  in  the  conventions 
of  the  Council,  most  of  its  proceedings  are,  by  com- 
mon consent,  conducted  in  English  as  the  tongue  most 
familiar  to  the  vast  majority.  The  English  has,  in 
fact,  been  adopted  as  the  official  language.  There  is 
no  danger  of  it  ever  becoming  a  foreign  body,  a  new 
Scandinavia  or  a  new  Germany  on  American  soil. 

A  notable  element  of  the  Council's  strength  and 
success  is  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Philadelphia. 
Its  establishment  antedates  the  disruption  of  the  Gen- 
eral Synod,  and  was  itself  a  recognition  of  the  diverse 
tendencies  that  prevailed  between  those  who  sought 
primarily  to  uphold  the  standards  of  the  Church  and 
those  who  represented  the  "  American  "  type  of  Luther- 
anism.  Warm  controversies  were  raging  in  periodicals 
and  other  publications,  and  an  irreconcilable  antag- 
onism showed  itself  especially  at  Gettysburg,  where 
in  the  same  building,  one  professor  in  almost  every 
lecture  disparaged  and  discredited  the  Confessions, 
while  another  one  constantly  inspired  his  students 
with  the  highest  veneration  for  them. 

The   Pennsylvania    Synod    believed   that  its  views 


442 


The  jLutherans  in  America. 


and  wants  could  not  be  satisfied  in  that  institution  and 
was  agitating  for  some  years  the  founding  of  another 
under  its  immediate  control,  which  should  conform  to 
its  doctrinal  position  and  give  proper  attention  to  the 
education  of  German  pastors. 

The  gift  of  $30,000  for  the  endowment  of  a  profes- 
sorship  by  Mr.  Charles    F.  Norton,  a   like  sum  from 


ORPHAN   HOME  AND  ASYLUM   FOR  AGED,    GERMANTOWN,    PA. 

the  Synod,  along  with  other  generous  donations,  en- 
abled it  in  the  fall  of  1864  to  open  a  seminary  with 
five  eminent  professors,  and  with  provision  for  a  full 
course  of  theology  in  both  German  and  English. 

The  establishment  of  the  seminary  at  that  juncture 
became  naturally  an  occasion  for  aggravating  the 
controversies  that  were  already  agitating  the   church. 


The  General  Council.  443 

and  it  contributed  no  little  in  determining  the  result 
at  Fort  Wayne  in  1866.  Coming  so  soon  after  the 
withdrawal  of  the  delegation  at  York  in  1864,  the  im- 
pression spread  that  the  Synod  had  already  severed 
its  connection  with  the  General  Synod,  and  strength- 
ened the  purpose  to  contest  its  re-admission. 

The  policy  of  the  Council  in  concentrating  its  Eng- 
lish and  German  interests  in  one  theological  school, 
while  the  General  Synod  with  a  much  smaller  constit- 
uency is  endeavoring  to  keep  up  five,  has  given  to 
the  Philadelphia  Seminary  an  exceptional  prosperity. 

The  missionary  activity  of  the  General  Council  can- 
not be  properly  estimated  without  considering  its 
polyglot  composition  and  the  relation  which  the  con- 
stituent synods  sustain  in  this  respect  to  the  general 
body.  The  General  Synod  being  much  more  homo- 
geneous is  able  to  commit  the  entire  administration 
of  its  Home  Mission  work  to  the  two  boards  of  Home 
Missions  and  Church  Extension.  While  likewise  pur- 
suing this  method  with  its  prosperous  foreign  mission 
the  Council  is  constrained  not  only  to  have  three 
Home  Mission  Boards,  an  English,  a  German,  and  a 
Scandinavian,  but  also  to  leave  the  greater  part  of 
this  interest  to  the  respective  synods. 

The  General  Council  has  been  distinguished  by  the 
number  of  able,  learned  and  eminent  divines  upon  its 
roll.  Several  have  already  passed  to  their  eternal 
reward,  although  the  body  on  which  they  have  left 
their  indelible  impress  is  yet  in  comparative  infancy. 
The  prominence  and  influence  of  two  of  these  in 
founding  and  shaping  the  Council  call  for  a  pause  at 
this  point.     With  a  surprising  coincidence  they  bear 


444  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

the  names  of  Krauth  and  Schmucker,  names  that  will 
never  fade  from  the  memory  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 
They  were  sons  respectively  of  the  two  venerable 
Gettysburg  professors, sons  that  surpassed  "the  praise 
of  their  great  sires,"  especially  Jn  the  incalculable  and 
ineffaceable  results  of  their  activity. 

Charles  Porterfield  Krauth,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  was  be- 
yond question  the  most  gifted,  the  most  learned  and 
the  most  renowned  theologian  of  the  English  Lu- 
theran Church,  commanding  even  in  Germany  recog- 
nition "as  one  of  the  chief  scholars  in  the  great 
Church  of  theologians."  His  brilliancy  and  versa- 
tility, his  vast  erudition,  his  combination  of  breadth 
and  depth  of  culture,  and  his  voluminous  writings 
gave  him  an  exalted  station  among  his  contempo- 
raries. Dr.  Schaff,  his  colleague  on  the  American 
Committee  of  Old  Testament  Revisers,  speaks  of  his 
death,  which  occurred  before  he  had  attained  three- 
score years,  as  a  great  loss  "to  the  whole  Church  of 
Christ  in  this  land,  and  to  the  republic  of  letters. 
Our  country  has  produced  few  men  who  united  in 
their  own  persons  so  many  of  the  excellences,  which 
distinguish  the  scholar,  the  theologian,  the  exegete, 
the  debater  and  the  leader  of  his  brethren.  His  learn- 
ing did  not  smother  his  genius,  nor  did  his  philosoph- 
ical attainments  impair  the  simplicity  of  his  faith." 

His  crowning  glory,  his  imperishable  monument,  is 
found  in  his  incomparable  service  in  behalf  of  the 
faith,  history  and  cultus  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 
Having  by  years  of  close  study  come  to  the  convic- 
tion that  the  full  truth  of  God's  Word  was  nowhere 
set  forth  with  such  clearness,  purity  and  fullness  as  in 


The   General  Council.  445 

her  collective  Confessions,  and  that  in  all  their  doc- 
trinal teachings  these  were  in  conformity  with  that 
Word,  he  expended  his  talents  and  energies  in  their 
interpretation  into  the  thought  and  idiom  of  this  na- 
tion, in  their  exposition,  elucidation  and  defense.  His 
own  heart  held  captive  by  the  discovery  of  the  rich 
treasures  of  the  Church,  he  earnestly  called  her  chil- 
dren to  the  consciousness  of  their  inheritance. 

As  Editor  of  the  Lutheran  and  Missionary,  as  Pro- 
fessor in  the  Philadelphia  Seminary,  as  author  of  the 
Fundamental  Principles  of  Faith  and  Church  Polity 
and  other  important  official  documents,  as  President 
of  the  Council  by  common  consent  for  ten  years,  and 
especially  by  his  "Conservative  Reformation,"  he 
exerted  an  epoch-making  influence  over  the  Lutheran 
Church  of  this  country. 

His  fellow-laborer  and  life-long  friend,  Beale  M. 
Schmucker,  D.  D.,  offers  a  striking  proof  that  faith  as 
well  as  blood  leaves  its  impress  upon  posterity.  Rep- 
resenting one  of  the  distinguished  families  which  in 
each  successive  generation  contributes  at  least  one 
worthy  son  to  the  ministry  of  the  Lutheran  Church, 
he  inherited  the  strong  and  splendid  personal  qualities 
which  characterized  alike  his  grandfather  and  his 
father,  each  in  his  day  and  peculiar  environment  being 
the  model  of  a  cultured  Christian  gentleman. 

In  view  of  subsequent  developments  in  the  Church, 
what  a  stroke  of  Providence  it  must  have  been  to 
locate  young  Krauth  and  young  Schmucker  soon 
after  the  completion  of  their  training  at  the  Gettys- 
burg institutions,  in  neighboring  towns  in  the  State  of 
Virginia,  where,  with  a  standing  engagement  to  spend 


446  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

together  one  week  of  every  three  months  and  with 
regular  correspondence  during  the  interval,  they 
jointly  studied  the  doctrines  and  history  of  their 
Church.  It  was  there  that  the  theological  position  of 
these  sons  of  Gettysburg  Professors  underwent  a 
powerful  change,  and  to  an  humble  parsonage  in  the 
Valley  of  Virginia  may  be  traced  the  birth  of  a  move- 
ment that  has  affected  almost  the  entire  Lutheran 
Church  of  this  country  and  permanently  changed  the 
stream  of  her  development. 

No  one  was  more  active  or  zealous  than  Dr. 
Schmucker  in  founding  the  General  Council  and  its 
institutions,  and  no  one  has  done  more  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  nearly  all  its  official  documents,  especially  its 
hymnal,  catechisms  and  forms  of  worship,  for  which 
he  possessed  rare  gifts  and  through  industrious  and 
minute  research  had  acquired  uncommon  attainments. 
In  Liturgies  he  had  no  superior  in  this  country  or  in 
Germany,  in  his  own  Church  or  in  any  other.  A 
learned  Episcopal  bishop  was  wont  to  refer  his  clergy 
to  him  as  being  better  posted  than  himself  on  all 
questions  pertaining  to  the  "  Book  of  Common 
Prayer."  His  labors  in  this  sphere  were  prompted 
by  the  interests  of  divine  worship,  by  the  desire  of  his 
heart  to  have  the  believer  on  coming  to  the  throne  of 
grace  employ  the  most  appropriate  terms  '  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  has  put  upon  the  lips  of  God's  Children 
through  many  ages." 

THE  PENNSYLVANIA  MINISTERIUM. 

The  General  Council  is  essentially  an  alliance  of 
Synods.     Its  most  powerful  member  is  without  ques- 


The  General  Council. 


447 


tion  the  Pennsylvania  Ministerium,  the  parent  organi- 
zation of  this  country,  the  founder  of  the  General 
Synod  in  1820  and  of  the  General  Council  in  1867. 
Its  history  is  for  nearly  a  century  the  history  of  the 
Church.  Although  in  previous  chapters  its  progress, 
its  operations  and  strength  are  noted,  it  well  merits  a 
separate  chapter.  Yet  as  nothing  short  of  an  entire 
volume  would  suffice  to  bring  out  fully  its  place  and 
part  in  the  development  of  the  Church,  further  details, 
however  interesting  and  important,  cannot  here  be  at- 
tempted. One  of  its  noblest  products  in  recent  years 
is  the  establishment  of  Muhlenberg  College  at  Allen- 
town,  Penn.,  in  1867 

THE  NEW  YORK  MINISTERIUM. 

Another  strong  constituent   of  the   Council  is  the 

Ministerium  of  New 
York,  the  second  oldest 
Synod  in  America,  which 
through  all  the  changes 
of  a  century  has  uniform- 
ly sustained  relations  of 
warm  sympathy  to  the 
Mother  Synod.  It  num- 
bers over  26,000  commu- 
nicants, supports  a  Pro- 
I  fessor  in  the  Philadelphia 
Seminary  and  has  lately 
established  the  Luther 
Wagner  Memorial  Col- 
lege at  Rochester,  N.  Y.  Since  the  separation  of 
nearly  the  entire  English  element  in  1867,  it  has  been 
predominantly  a  German  body  but  a  number  of  vigor- 


WAGNER  MEMORIAL  COLLEGE, 
ROCHESTER,    N.    Y. 


448  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

ous  and  prosperous  English  Churches  have  in  recent 
years  been  organized.  A  compendious  history  of  this 
body  prepared  in  the  German  language  by  Rev.  John 
Nicum  has  been  published  by  official  authority. 

THE  PITTSBURG  SYNOD. 

The  Pittsburg  Synod  has  a  history  of  its  own  which 
claims  some  notice.  Organized  in  the  city  of  Pitts- 
burg, January  15,  1845,  by  eight  ministers  and  six  lay- 
men it  represented  some  forty  congregations  with  a 
membership  of  about  3,500.  The  western  section  of 
Pennsylvania  had  heretofore  been  common  ground 
for  the  German  Synod  of  Ohio,  its  English  district, 
the  English  Synod  of  Ohio  and  the  Synod  of  West 
Pennsylvania.  These  eight  ministers  stood  con- 
nected with  seven  different  synodical  bodies.  The 
time  for  uniting  themselves  and  their  churches  in  one 
body  would  seem  to  have  been  ripe,  especially  as  the 
territory  they  occupied  lay  at  the  extreme  limits  of 
the  Synods  which  were  respectively  and  in  a  desul- 
tory fashion  seeking  to  cultivate  it.  A  centre  was 
needed,  co-operation,  a  common  purpose. 

Hence  it  was  resolved  to  sink  all  minor  differences 
of  opinion,  such  as  preferences  for  literary,  theological 
and  benevolent  institutions,  and  to  ignore  such  dis- 
tinctions as  were  commonly  designated  by  the  terms 
"old  and  new  measures."  Having  thus  disposed  of 
the  obstacles  which  blocked  the  way  of  union  they 
formed  an  association  in  order 

First.  To  bring  the  hitherto  separated  congrega- 
tions of  Western  Pennsylvania  into  one  body, 

Second.    Provide    these    churches  with    a    holy  and 


450  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

competent  ministry,  either  through  stated  supplies  or 
permanent  pastors, 

Third.  Build  up  and  reorganize  such  as  were  lan- 
guishing, 

Fourth.  Carry  the  Gospel  to  destitute  settlements 
throughout  that  territory. 

This  body  has  won  the  honorable  distinction  of 
"the  Missionary  Synod."  It  has  been  singularly 
aggressive  in  all  church  works  and  abundant  in  sacri- 
fices, alms  and  labors.  While  holding  firmly  to  the 
Church's  Confession,  cherishing  her  pure  faith  and 
maintaining  a  conservative  tendency,  the  bond  which 
united  its  congregations  has  been  conspicuously  its 
-educational,  missionary  and  charitable  work. 

In  1850  it  sent  a  missionary  to  Canada  who  was 
soon  followed  by  others.  Their  success  in  that  prov- 
ince led  to  the  organization  of  a  separate  Synod  in 
1861.  In  1851  missionaries  were  sent  to  Texas  and 
material  support  was  given  to  the  feeble  congrega- 
tions there,  until  they  also  were  able  a  few  years 
later  to  organize  a  Synod,  which  like  that  of  Can- 
ada stands  connected  with  the  General  Council.  The 
Minnesota  Synod  also  owes  its  existence  to  this  body's 
activity.  Missionary  work  has  been  successfully  car- 
ried on  in  Nova  Scotia  and  missions  have  been  sus- 
tained in  Knoxville,  Chattanooga,  Nashville,  Wheel- 
ing, Fort  Wayne,  Canton,  Cleveland,  Chicago  and 
other  western  cities  at  an  expense  of  not  less  than 
$100,000.  The  Synod  can  point  to  many  flourishing 
churches  which  its  far-seeing  efforts  brought  into  ex- 
istence. A  generous  support  has  also  been  given  to 
the  cause  of  ministerial  education.       A  successful  col- 


The  General  Council.  451 

lege  is  in  operation  at  Greenville,  Penn.,  and  a  num- 
ber of  institutions  of  mercy,  sheltering  orphans  and  the 
suffering,  evince  the  spirit  that  animates  this  body. 
Its  eight  ministers  have  multiplied  to  109,  notwith- 
standing the  withdrawal  of  a  number  with  their  con- 
gregations  during  the  crisis  of  1866,  and  it  now  em- 
braces 190  congregations  and  20,000  communicants. 
It  united  with  the  General  Synod  in  1853,  in  "the 
hope  that  a  connection  with  the  Parent  Education 
and  Missionary  Society  of  that  body  would  widen  its 
field  of  influence."  "Its  separation  from  the  General 
Synod  and  union  with  the  Council  in  1867  resulted 
from  the  firm  conviction  that  the  change  would 
enhance  its  opportunities  for  building  up  the  Redeem- 
er's Kingdom." 

Of  its  founders  all  but  one  have  been  called  to  the 
Church  above.  Pre-eminent  among  the  group  was 
Rev.  Gottlieb  Bassler,  who  was  for  nine  years  Presi- 
dent of  the  body,  and  who  by  his  extraordinary  talents 
as  an. organizer  did  more  to  develop  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  Western  Pennsylvania  than  any  other 
man.  His  purity  of  character,  his  humility,  honesty, 
generosity,  his  judgment  and  his  devotion  to  convic- 
tion were  such  that  no  one  could  be  longf  in  contact 
with  him  without  coming  under  his  influence. 

THE  SWEDISH  AUGUSTANA  SYNOD. 

The  thrilling  episode  of  the  Swedish  Colony  of  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  occupies  an 
earlier  chapter  of  this  volume.  The  humble  begin- 
nings, rapid  growth  and  earnest  spirit  of  the   Swedish 


452  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

Augustana  Synod,    offers    another    bright    portion    of 
the  history  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America. 

The  immigration  from  which  it  has  sprung  began 
about  1845,  reached  noticeable  proportions  in  ten 
years,  rose  after  the  war  to  tens  of  thousands  annually 
and  continues  a  large  and  steady  stream.  There  are 
now  in  this  country  a  million  of  Swedes  of  the  first 
and  second  generations.  While  the  great  mass  is  to 
be  found  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley, there  are  Swedish  Lutherans  in  Puritan  New 
England  and  in  the  new  Northwest  beyond  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  Chicago,  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  are 
their  ecclesiastical  and  social  centres.  In  Minnesota 
they  form  one-sixth  of  the  population. 

Most  of  these  people  are  farmers.  Others  are  me- 
chanics and  laborers.  Not  a  few  are  the  leading  mer- 
chants and  business  men  of  their  communities. 

In  the  earlier  days  of  immigration,  while  their 
number  was  small,  the  Swedes  seemed  possessed  of 
inordinate  haste  to  lay  aside  every  national  peculiar- 
ity and  to  Americanize  by  wholesale.  Their  marvel- 
ous increase,  coupled  with  the  multiplication  of 
Swedish  newspapers  and  schools,  has  led  to  a  reac- 
tion. The  tendency  towards  the  use  of  the  English 
language  in  worship,  as  well  as  in  business,  is  now, 
generally  speaking,  more  gradual  and  is  more  readily 
kept  within  churchly  channels.  A  wide  difference 
obtains  in  this  matter  between  rural  and  city  districts. 
Where  a  farming  community  is  exclusively  Swedish, 
the  customs  and  even  some  of  the  costumes  of  the 
fatherland  persist.  In  mixed  communities,  especially 
in  cities,  a  great  change  is  effected  in  a  single  genera- 


REV.    E.    I*.    ESBJORN. 


The  General  Council.  453 

tion.     But  the  Scandinavian   generally    Americanizes 
more  rapidly  than  the  German. 

The  man  selected  by  Providence  to  lay  the  founda- 
tions of  the  Swedish  Lutheran  Church  in  America, 
was  Rev.  Lars  P.  Esbjorn,  who  settled  in  Henry 
county,  111.,  not  far  from  Rock  Island.  In  1850  with 
but  ten  members  he  founded  the  first  regular  Lu- 
theran Church,  at  Andover.  The  original  church 
edifice  still  stands,  but  the  congregation  now  worships 
in  an  immense  building,  and  holds  the  first  rank 
among-  the  Swedish  conoreo-ations. 

Esbjorn  was  a  true  bishop.  He  visited  the  scat- 
tered settlements,  organizing  congregations  and  pre- 
paring the  way  for  pastors.  When  it  became  neces- 
sary to  find  a  man  for  the  Scandinavian  professorship 
in  Capital  University,  Springfield,  111.,  all  eyes  turned 
to  him.  Thence  he  was  in  i860  called  to  the  newly 
established  theological  seminary  in  Chicago.  He 
subsequently  returned  to  Sweden  and  died  in  the 
service  of  the  State  Church. 

Esbjorn  associated  with  himself  two  men  of  God, 
who  continue  unto  this  d.iy  the  beloved  patriarchs  of 
the  Svnod,  Rev.  Tuve  N.  Hasselquist,  D.  D.,  and 
Rev.  Erland  Carlsson.  The  former  began  in  1855 
his  editorial  career  by  issuing  a  politico-religious 
weekly,  entitled  "Hemlandet,  det  Gamla  och  det  Nya," 
i.  e.  The  Old  and  the  New  Fatherland.  Out  of  it 
have  grown  the  substantial  Chicago  weekly  "Hem- 
landet," edited  by  Hon.  John  Enander,  and  the  weekly 
synodical  organ  "  Augustana  och  Mission  ren," 
edited  by  Dr.  Hasselquist.  Through  these  papers, 
and,  in  his  capacity  as  president  of  the  Synod  for  ten, 


454  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

and  of  Augustana  College  and  Theological  Seminary 
for  twenty-six  years,  Dr,  H.  has  been  the  instructor, 
champion,  and  spiritual  father  of  the  Swedish  people 
of  this  country. 

The  equally  important  position  of  pastor  at 
Chicago  was  occupied  for  twenty-two  years  (1S53- 
1875)  by  Rev.  E.  Carlsson.  The  fervor  of  his  pulpit 
ministrations  and  his  masterly  skill  as  an  organizer 
were  blessed  to  the  building  up  of  Immanuel  Church, 
now  a  parish  of  sixteen  hundred  communicants.  As 
president  of  the  Synod  and  of  the  college  board,  he 
skillfully  guided  and  developed  the  energies  of  the 
Synod  and  impressed  it  with  a  spirit  of  "faith  that 
worketh  by  love." 

The  Swedish  work  was  brought  into  connection 
with  American  church  life  by  the  temporary  union  of 
the  Swedes  with  the  Synod  of  Northern  Illinois — a 
General  Synod  body.  As  this  synod  simply  affirmed 
the  Augsburg  Confession  to  be  "a  summary  of  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion  substan- 
tially correct,"  the  Swedish  conferences  carefully  guard- 
ed their  rights  on  entering  the  body.  Feeling  hampered 
by  the  union,  they  abruptly  withdrew  in  i860,  and  im- 
mediately formed  an  organization  of  their  own,  com- 
posed of  the  Chicago,  Mississippi,  and  Minnesota  Con- 
ferences, and  containing  half  as  many  Norwegians  as 
Swedes.  The  first  convention  of  "The  Scandinavian 
Augustana  Synod"  was  held  in  the  Norwegian  church 
at  Jefferson  Prairie,  near  Clinton,  Rock  county,  Wis., 
June  5,  i860.  Twenty-eight  pastors,  representing  five 
thousand  communicants,  participated  in  the  organiza- 
tion.    The  most  important  step  taken  was  the  found- 


The  General  Council.  455 

ing  of  a  theological  seminary  at  Chicago.  This  sem- 
inary has  been  the  chief  source  of  supply  for  the 
Synod,  the  pronounced  sentiment  of  the  body  favor- 
ing a  ministry  educated  in  America.  This  has  con- 
duced to  such  unity  of  view  and  strength  of  attach- 
ment to  the  Synod  as  to  render  it  difficult  to  effect  a 
change  in  the  organization,  now  that  it  has  grown  so 
numerous  and  widely  extended  to  make  the  attendance 
and  entertainment  of  the  whole  body  impracticable. 

Among  the  notable  founders  of  this  Synod  mention 
should  be  made  of  the  following:  Rev.  Erik  Norelius 
born  in  Sweden,  but  educated  at  Capital  University, 
Ohio,  the  pioneer  of  the  Minnesota  Conference,  one  of 
the  originators  of  nearly  all  its  institutions,  the  college 
begun  at  Red  Wing,  1862,  the  Weekly  Skaffaren,  and 
the  Vasa  Orphans'  Home.  His  three  volume  history 
of  the  Synod,  now  in  press,  reveals  the  painstaking 
scholar  and  the  graceful  writer; 

Rev.  Jonas  Svensson  of  Andover,  111.,  remarkable  as 
a  preacher  and  a  catechist.  It  was  not  uncommon  for 
him  to  preach  for  three  hours,  without  notes  and  with- 
out fault  of  logic  or  excess  of  verbiage.  His  catechu- 
mens were  readily  distinguished  by  their  thorough 
knowledge  of  divine  things  ; 

Rev.  Peter  Carlsson,  who  after  years  spent  in  the 
forests  of  Minnesota,  went  to  the  Northwest  and 
founded  the  leading  churches  in  Idaho,  Washington, 
and  Oregon. 

During  this,  "the  patriarchal  period,"  although  under 
the  external  pressure  of  temporal  poverty  and  many 
other  difficulties,  such  as  the  Civil  War,  and  the  great 


456  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

Sioux  outbreak  in  Minnesota  in  1862,  the  develop- 
ment was  more  internal  and  tranquil. 

The  theological  seminary  was  removed  in  1863  to 
Paxton,  111.  An  American  professor  and  a  Norwe- 
gian— Rev.  Wm.  Kopp  and  Rev.  A.  Weenaas — 
were  added.  A  general  collection  in  Sweden  yielded 
$10,846.  Five  thousand  volumes  were  received  from 
the  library  of   the  late  King  Oscar  I. 

In  1867  the  Synod  participated  in  the  formation  of 
the  General  Council,  in  whose  deliberations  its  dele- 
gates have  taken  an  honorable  part.  It  early  pro- 
nounced against  indiscriminate  communion,  pulpit 
fellowship,  and  secret  societies.  Persons  connected 
with  lodges  were  in  most  congregations  permitted  to 
remain,  but  no  new  ones  were  received  ;  in  others 
they  were  excluded.  Saloon  keepers  are  also  exclud- 
ed,  and    a    strong    temperance    sentiment  prevails. 

About  1865  there  came  to  Kansas  at  the  head  of  a 
Swedish  colony  a  man  who  has  awakened  extraordi- 
nary enthusiasm  in  the  Synod,  Rev.  Olof  Olsson.  He 
settled  at  Lindsborg,  Kansas,  which  under  his  magnetic 
leadership  became  a  centre  of  singular  power  and 
activity.  At  one  time  his  people  sent  him  to  the 
legislature  of  Kansas.  Prof.  Olsson  is  an  interesting 
writer.  His  ability  as  such  was  of  great  service  when 
the  hyper-evangelical  tendency  in  Sweden  ran  out  into 
the  Waldenstromian  heresy — a  species  of  Socinian- 
ism  taught  in  Sweden  by  Waldenstrom,  who  is  now 
propagating  his  views  in  this  country.  From  pulpit 
and  theological  .chair  (at  Rock  Island)  Prof.  Olsson 
fought  this  error.  Above  all  he  enkindled  a  burning 
zeal  in  all  the  students  of  the  college  and  seminary. 


458  The  LutJierans  in  America. 

The  Synod  holds  an  annual  meeting  continuing  for 
about  ten  days.  Two  or  three  sermons  are  preached 
daily,  and  doctrinal  discussions  occupy  much  time 
when  not,  as  latterly,  crowded  into  the  background. 
The  Synodical  council,  consisting  of  the  President 
and  Vice-President  of  the  Synod  and  two  representa- 
tives from  each  conference,  spends  several  days  in 
preparing  business  for  the  Convention.  The  Minis- 
terium  meets  next.  Every  applicant  for  ordination 
and  every  ordained  minister  dismissed  to  this  Synod 
must  appear  before  it  for  examination  touching  his 
faith  and  life.  In  the  ordination  as  many  ministers 
as  possible  unite  in  the  laying  on  of  hands.  Not  only 
the  Augsburg  Confession  but  the  entire  Book  of  Con- 
cord is  accepted. 

1  he  Synod  deals  with  general  questions — ordina- 
tion, the  institutions  at  Rock  Island,  home  missions 
outside  of  the  Conferences,  missions  among  the  Mor- 
mons, foreign  missions,  and  publication. 

The  Conferences,  dealing  with  most  of  these 
questions  within  their  own  bounds,  and  having  edu- 
cational and  charitable  institutions  of  their  own.  are 
virtual  sub-synods.  They  meet  twice  a  year  for  a 
week  or  ten  days.  In  order  that  each  congregation 
may  be  reached,  they  are  subdivided  into  mission  dis- 
tricts, which  are  conferences  in  the  usual  sense  of  the 
term,  and    in   which   preaching    predominates. 

The  college  and  seminary  were  transferred  to  Rock 
Island,  1875.  The  St.  Ansgar's  Academy- at  St.  Peter, 
Minn.,  was  reopened  as  Gustavus  Adolphus  College; 
and  about  the  same  time,  the  publication  of  three  new 
papers — Barn    Vannen   (Children's    Friend)   by    Rev. 


The  General  Council.  459 

A.  Hult,  and  Ungdoms  Vannen  (Friend  of  Youth), 
a  monthly,  and  Korsbaneret  (The  Banner  of  the 
Cross),  an  annual,  was  begun. 

The  present  decade  is  viewed  as  "  the  transitional 
period."  The  fathers  are  gradually  relaxing  their 
hold  ;  a  generation  born  or  educated  here  is  coming 
forward ;  an  unmistakable  Americanization  has 
set  in.  The  magnificent  Bethany  College  has  been 
built  at  Lindsborg,  Kan.,  and  Orphanages  have  lately 
sprung  up  at  Mariedahl,  Kan.,  Staunton,  Iowa,  and 
in  the  old  settlement  at  Jamestown,  N.  Y. 

The  publication  cause  has  taken  a  new  phase.  The 
Synod  in  1875  sold  its  bookstore  to  a  Chicago  firm 
in  consideration  of  an  annual  payment  of  $1,000  for 
ten  years,  and  now  a  vigorous  society,  the  Augus- 
tana  Book  Concern,  publishes  a  number  of  periodicals 
and  books  and  is  a  source  of  revenue  to  the  Church. 

The  work  of  the  Synods  covers  the  Union.  The 
eastern-most  Church  is  at  New  Sweden  in  the  Maine 
forests.  New  England  is  missionary  ground.  In  New 
York  stands  the  handsome  Gustavus  Adolphus  Church. 
In  Philadelphia  Zion  Swedish  Church.  The  Illinois 
Conference  extends  into  the  copper  districts  along 
Lake  Superior.  Chicago  has  twelve  Swedish  churches 
and  the  Swedish  Augustana  Hospital  and  Deaconess 
House.  Rockford,  111.,  has  a  church  seating  two  thou- 
sand. It  cost  $65,000.  The  congregation  at  Moline, a 
suburb  of  Rock  Island,  numbers  twelve  hundred. 

Rock  Island  has  a  group  of  five  college  buildings, 
the  latest  a  costly  stone  structure  in  chaste  Gothic 
style,  one  of  the  finest  Lutheran  college  buildino-s  in 
the  land.     Its  erection  was  made  possible  by  the  gift 


460 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


of  $25,000  from  the  Hon.  R.  S.  Cable,  president  of 
the  Rock  Island  Railway  Company.  Augustana  College 
and  the  institutions  at  St.  Peter  and  Lindsboror  now 
contain  business  and  musical  departments.  The  semi- 
nary makes  full  provision  for  the  English  interests. 

Minneapolis    and    St.  Paul  form   the  second  great 
Scandinavian  center,  with  already  over  fifty  thousand 


AUGUSTANA   COLLEGE,    ROCK   ISLAND,    ILL. 

Swedes.  Augustana  church,  Minneapolis,  has  a  congre- 
gation of  nearly  two  thousand.  At  St.  Peter  there  is  a 
college  with  a  large  faculty  and  245  students,  and  there 
are  several  flourishing  academies.  The  peculiar  dif- 
ficulties of  this  field  are  the  vast  floating  population, 
the  increasing  worldliness  of  the  later  immigration, 
and  the  pernicious  activity  of  the  sects. 

An  element  which   by  every  sacred  bond   is  united 


The  General  Council.  461 

with  the  Lutheran  Church,  is  sought  to  be  wrested 
from  it  by  Methodists,  Baptists  and  especially  the  so- 
called  Mission  Friends.  With  the  latter  the  Conere- 
gationalists  have  been  courting  fellowship.  Some  years 
ago  a  determined  effort  was  made  by  the  Episcopa- 
lians to  appropriate  this  rich  Lutheran  material. 
Through  their  agency  the  Swedish  bishops  were  per- 
suaded at  one  time  to  grant  letters  of  dismissal,  recom- 
mending the  emigrants  to  the  care  of  Episcopalian 
rectors  where  Swedish  Lutheran  pastors  cjuld  not  be 
found.  Not  many  Swedes  were  alienated  from  their 
church  by  this  proselyting  device.  There  is  very  lit- 
tle high  church  tendency  among  those  that  come  to 
this  country,  and  though  they  were  accustomed  to 
Episcopal  government  in  the  State  Church,  they  know 
nothing  of  Apostolic  Succession  or  the  divine  rio-ht  of 
bishops.  Firmly  grounded  in  the  doctrines  of  the 
Gospel,  indefatigable  in  promoting  evangelical  ac- 
tivity and  spirituality,  and  united  as  one  man,  the  Au- 
gustana  Synod  has  been  wonderfully  successful  in 
preserving  the  Swedish  people  from  fanaticism  and 
gathering  them  into  churches  of  their  own  faith. 

Effective  English  work  has  been  done  at  Minneapo- 
lis, and  at  St.  Paul.  Lutherans  of  eight  nationalities 
have  been  gathered  into  these  congregations.  By  the 
same  pastors  congregations  have  been  established  at 
Red  Wing  and  West  St.  Paul.  Other  attempts  have  been 
made  by  the  Synod  itself  to  solve  the  English  problem 
at  Chicago  and  Rock  Island  by  separate  congregations, 
♦at  Galesburg,  Rockford,  Denver,  and  elsewhere,  by  more 
or  less  frequent  English  Sunday  evening  services. 

The  Nebraska  churches  with  their  own  school  cen- 


462  The  Lutherans  in  Amei'ica. 

ter  at  Wahoo,  and  noble  deaconess  work  at  Omaha, 
have  since  1887  constituted  a  distinct  Conference. 
The  Kansas  Conference  covers  a  wide  field — Kansas, 
Texas,  Colorado,  which  it  cultivates  with  self-sacrific- 
ing zeal.  Out  of  the  labors  of  Rev.  Peter  Carlsson 
on  the  Northwestern  coast  and  Rev.  J.  Telleen  in 
California,  has  sprung  the  Pacific  Conference.  To 
rescue  the  Swedes  sunk  in  Mormonism,  Prof.  S.  M. 
Hill,  1882,  began  work  at  Salt  Lake  City.  A  church 
has  been  erected  and  an  academy  begun.  A  number 
of  pastors  now  labor  in  the  Territory  of  Utah. 

The  home  missionary  work  has  sorely  taxed  the  en- 
ergies of  the  Synod.  At  times  settled  pastors  have 
spent  a  month  every  year  in  the  mission  field.  Again 
they  have  served  four  or  five  churches  until  these  were 
strong  enough  to  support  their  own  pastors.  Occa- 
sionally catechists  have  been  employed,  but  the  chief 
dependence  has  been  students  of  theology,  pious  col- 
lege students  of  all  stages  of  preparation,  and  pro- 
fessors ordained  and  unordained. 

The  parochial  schools  maintained  by  most  congre- 
gations and  taught  by  students  have  been  an  agency 
of  great  good.  They  are  held  for  a  month  or  more 
during  the  summer.  A  few  hold  sessions  of  six 
months  or  more.  Instruction  is  given  in  Bible  His- 
tory, Luther's  Catechism,  the  Swedish  Language, 
Church  History,  and  Church  Hymns.  To  this  the 
pastor  adds  a  six  months'  term  of  catechization,  meet- 
ing his  class  from  two  to  four  hour  hours  a  day  once 
or  twice  a  week.  Confirmation  takes  place  about 
Palm  Sunday.     A  public  examination  precedes. 

At  "  Hogmessa  "  (High  Mass),  or  the  Sunday  morn- 


The  General  Council.  463 

ing  service,  the  full  liturgical  service  (according  to  the 
hymn-book  of  1819)  is  used.  It  is  in  the  main  that  of 
the  Common  Service,  with  the  Confession  of  Sins,  the 
greater  "Gloria"  (a  verse  of  "  Allena  Gud  i  himmelrik," 
"All  glory  be  to  God  on  high),"  the  pericopes,  collects, 
etc.  On  high  days  the  minister  intones  his  part  of  the 
service.  The  Lord's  Prayer  is  often  merely  indicated 
by  the  opening  words,  the  people  following  in  silence. 
The  sermon  is  as  a  rule  extemporaneous  and  on  the 
Gospel  for  the  day.  Prayer-meetings  are  held,  at 
which  the  laity  take  part  in  prayer  and  exhortation. 
The  Week  of  Prayer  is  observed. 

The  people  are  earnest  readers  of  such  devotional 
works  as  Luther's  sermons,  Arndt's  True  Christianity, 
and  the  writings  of  the  Swedish  Pietists,  Rosenius  and 
Fjellstedt.  The  Bible  with  brief  notes  by  Fjellstedt, 
or  Melin,  and  the  Book  of  Concord  are  found  in  many 
households.  This  fact  augurs  well  for  a  continuance 
of  Christian  knowledge  and  true  godliness,  despite 
the  temptations  incident  to  the  twofold  transition 
from  poverty  to  affluence  and  from  the  language  and 
customs  of  Sweden  to  those  of  America. 

The  strength  of  this  synod  is  292  ministers,  582  con- 
gregations, 343  church  buildings,  and  76,000  communi- 
cants, with  19,889  scholars  and  2,606  teachers  in  the 
Sunday-schools,  272  parochial  schools  and  11,464 
pupils.  The  contributions  for  educational  purposes 
were,  in  1888,  $28415;  home  missions,  $14,538;  for- 
eign missions,  $5,946;  church  extension,  orphans,  etc., 
$19,476;  the  whole  averaging  $1.00  per  member.  The 
synod  doubles  every  fifteen  years. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE    UNITED    SYNOD    IN    THE    SOUTH. 

THE  rupture  of  the  Federal  Union  in  1861  was 
regarded  final  by  the  great  body  of  the  people  in 
the  Confederate  States.  The  members  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  shared  this  conviction,  and  believing 
their  civil  and  political  separation  to  be  beyond  re- 
call they  deemed  it  expedient  and  necessary  to  have  a 
new  general  ecclesiastical  organization.  The  move- 
ment was  abetted  by  the  alienation  inevitably  growing 
out  of  domestic  war  and  by  the  bitterness  of  feeling 
which  a  sharp  conflict  of  sentiment  on  sectional  insti- 
tutions naturally  produced,  while  the  general  desire 
for  a  more  pronounced  adherence  to  the  Augsburg 
Confession  which  a  few  years  later  triumphed  also  in 
the  General  Synod,  had  already  attained  decided 
strength  in  the  South. 

A  preliminary  convention  of  a  few  delegates  at 
Salisbury,  N.  C,  May  15,  1862,  accomplished  little  be- 
yond the  appointment  of  special  committees  to  pro- 
vide for  submission  to  a  subsequent  meeting,  a  con- 
stitution for  the  new  body,  a  Formula  of  government 
and  discipline,  a  Hymn-book  and  Catechism,  and  a 
Liturgy. 

A  year  later  delegations  from  the  Synods  of  North 
and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Virginia  and  South- 
western Virginia  assembled  at  Concord,  N.  C,  and 
formally  organized  "The  General  Synod  of  the  Evan- 

464 


^jfi&js 


Rev.    JOHN    BACH3IAN,    I>.  ».,    1,1,.  ». 


The   United  Synod  in  the  South.  465 

gelical  Lutheran  Church  in  the  Confederate  States  of 
America."  Rev.  John  Bachman,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  was 
elected  President  and  Rev.  David  F.  Bittle,  D.  D., 
Secretary.  The  doctrinal  basis  was  declared  to  be 
"the  Old  and  New  Testaments  as  the  Word  of  God 
and  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice,"  and 
"the  Ecumenical  Creeds  and  the  Aucrsbure  Confes- 
sion  as  the  exponents  of  this  faith."  A  clause  allow- 
ing liberty  of  construction  on  several  articles  of  the 
Confession  was  added,  but  a  later  convention  expunged 
it.  The  work  of  the  other  committees  was  accepted, 
the  "Southern  Lutheran"  was  made  the  oro-an  of  the 
body,  the  founding  of  a  publishing  company  was  re- 
solved on,  and  the  organization  of  the  new  body  was 
perfected  with  a  remarkable  degree  of  harmony. 

The  second  annual  meeting  was  marked  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  Committee  on  Domestic  Missions. 

When  the  body  met  again,  June  14.  1866,  the  war 
had  ended,  the  Union  was  restored,  a  new  title  had  to 
be  adopted  to  conform  to  the  changed  situation,  the 
problem  of  a  continued  separation  from  the  Church 
North  had  to  be  grappled,  and  the  founding  of  a  theo- 
logical seminary  was  advocated  as  the  most  pressing 
need  of  the  hour. 

A  pastoral  letter  urging  the  continuance  of  a  sepa- 
rate organization  protested  that  this  was  due  to  no 
desire  to  keep  up  sectional  animosity  either  in  Church 
or  State,  but  to  a  firm  persuasion  "  that  the  prosperity 
of  our  beloved  Zion  in  the  South  can  best  be  sub- 
served in  this  way."  Connected  with  the  General 
Synod  from  its  organization,  the  result  on  the  progress 
of  the  Southern  Churches  had   not  been   satisfactory. 


466  The  Lutherans  in  A)nertca. 

They  had  patronized  the  educational  institutions  and 
the  literature  of  the  North  to  the  serious  neglect  of 
their  own  resources  and  the  detriment  of  their  own 
development.  It  devolved  on  them  now  to  make 
proper  sacrifices  by  way  of  building  up  and  sustaining 
institutions  and  publications  in  their  midst,  and  no 
longer  to  retard  their  growth  by  an  unhealthy  depen- 
dence upon  the  Church  in  the  North.  This  letter  also 
decried  the  latitudinarianism  which,  by  ignoring  every 
feature  which  distinguished  the  Lutheran  Church 
from  other  denominations,  extinguished  that  church 
love  so  essential  to  church  activity,  and  furnished  the 
excuse  for  the  transition  of  ministers  and  members 
to  other  communions.  A  decided  stand  for  Lutheran 
orthodoxy,  it  claimed,  was  required  at  this  particular 
juncture.  The  division  which  was  then  taking  place 
in  the  General  Synod  was  finally  pointed  to  as  a 
decisive  argument  for  not  renewing  organic  relations 
with  it.  The  perpetuation  of  a  general  body  for  the 
South  was  thus  decided,  and  at  the  same  session  the 
Constitution  was  so  modified  as  to  give  to  it  both 
legislative  and  judicial  powers. 

At  the  next  convention,  in  1867,  the  South  Carolina 
Synod  transferred  its  theological  seminary  at  New- 
berry to  the  control  of  the  General  Synod,  offering  at 
the  same  time  to  support  a  professor  from  its  own 
funds.  Rev.  A.  J.  Fox  appeared  as  a  commissioner 
from  the  Tennessee  Synod  to  confer  with  reference  to 
the  union  of  that  Synod  with  this  body.  This  is  the 
first  step  towards  merging  all  the  Southern  Synods  in 
one  body,  which  was  happily  consummated  nine  years 
later.     Assurances  were  given  to  the  Tennessee  Synod 


The    United  Synod  in  the  South.  467 

not  only  of  a  cordial  reception  as  an  integral  part  of 
the  General  Synod  on  its  truly  Lutheran  basis,  but 
also  of  the  obligation  laid  upon  this  body  by  its  basis 
to  allow  neither  in  its  publications  nor  its  theological 
schools  any  doctrine  at  variance  with  the  Augsburg 
Confession.  The  Holston  Synod  was  admitted  in 
1868,  the  Mississippi  in  1872.  At  these  conventions 
the  problems  of  the  most  earnest  deliberation  were 
those  of  a  theological  seminary  and  a  church  paper; 
those  brethren  clearly  recognizing  that  only  a  trained 
ministry  and  an  enlightened  laity  can  effect  any  perma- 
nent and  thorough  upbuilding  of  the  church.  At 
Winchester  in  1870  the  prosecution  of  Home  and 
Foreign  Missions  was  warmly  canvassed  and  methods 
were  proposed  for  enlisting  the  interest  of  the  whole 
church.  This  convention  has  become  memorable 
from  a  special  communication  received  from  the  ven- 
erable Dr.  Bachman  expressing  his  prayerful  concern 
for  the  prosperity  of  the  church,  and  affirming  that 
"there  is  nothing  in  our  doctrines  that  should  prevent 
a  union  of  the  whole  church,  both  in  Europe  and 
America."  In  the  interest  of  a  consummation  so  de- 
voutly to  be  wished,  he  suggested  to  the  Synod  "the  ap- 
pointment of  delegates  to  meet  those  of  other  synods 
in  consultation  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  a  greater 
uniformity  in  our  books  of  worship  than  at  present 
exists.  Other  denominations  have  gained  very  much 
by  establishing  a  uniform  mode  of  worship.  If  this 
object  could  be  accomplished  our  Church  would,  in  my 
opinion,  be  more  respected  at  home  and  abroad,  and 
would  accomplish  a  far  greater  amount  of  good." 
The  General  Synod  was  not  prepared  to  take  action 


468  The  Ltitherans  in  America. 


on  this   sueeestion   but  it  is  well   to   note  what  spirit 


*e>& 


Spl 


conceived  the  project  of  the  Common  Service.  Six 
years  later  when  the  revision  of  the  Book  of  Worship 
was  under  discussion  "with  a  view  to  bringing  it  into 
more  complete  accord  with  the  true  Lutheran  cultus," 
it  was  resolved  that  the  powers  of  the  committee 
be  so  enlarged  as  to  invite  the  co-operation  of  the 
General  Synod  North  and  the  General  Council,  by 
the  appointment   of   similar  committees,  with  a  view 


NEWBERRY   COLLEGE,   NEWBERRY,    S.    C 

to  the  adoption  of  a  Common  Service  for  the  whole 
Church.  The  suggestion  was  promptly  adopted  and 
afterwards  heartily  and  unanimously  accepted  by  the 
other  two  bodies,  and  "the  common  consent  of  the 
pure  Lutheran  liturgies  of  the  sixteenth  century" 
made  the  basis  for  the  preparation  of  the  service.  The 
Theological  Seminary  was  in  1872  removed  to  Salem, 
Va.,  the  seat  of  Roanoke  College,  where  with  two  pro- 
fessors it  soon  attained  a  fair  measure  of  patronage. 


The   United  Synod  tn  the  South  469 

At  the  meeting  in  1878  fraternal  relations  were 
opened  with  the  General  Synod  North,  after  assur- 
ances from  that  body  that  its  deliverances  on  the  war 
were  in  no  way  designed  to  reflect  upon  the  Christian 
character  of  the  ministers  and  churches  of  the  South- 
ern Synods.  An  official  visitor  from  the  General 
Council  was  at  the  same  time  received  and  accorded 
"all  the  privileges  of  an  advisory  member."  Peculiar 
interest  was  given  to  subsequent  conventions  by  the 
presence  and  diplomatic  addresses  of  distinguished 
corresponding  delegates  from  these  two  bodies.  A 
committee  was  also  appointed  to  look  after  the  moral 
and  religious  interests  of  the  colored  race,  with  especial 
reference  to  the  establishment  of  Lutheran  churches 
and  educational  and  eleemosynary  institutions  among 
them,  and  the  General  Bodies  in  the  North  were 
invited  to  "co-operate  in  the  advancement  of  this 
imperatively  needed  work." 

At  Charlotte,  N.  C,  in  1882,  an  entire  evening  was 
devoted  to  the  subject  of  union  with  other  General 
Bodies  of  the  church.  "A  full  and  courteous  ex- 
pressions of  opinion  was  given  by  all  the  members" 
and  it  was 

Resolved,  "That  this  General  Synod  does  honestly 
and  earnestly  desire  to  promote  unity  and  concord 
between  all  the  parts  of  our  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church  in  this  land,  and  stands  prepared  to  co-operate 
in  any  concurrent  movement  of  other  General  Bodies 
towards  an  organic  union  of  our  entire  church  upon 
an  unequivocal  Lutheran  basis." 

The  committee  on  Missions  was  authorized  to  select 
and   sustain   a   missionary  in   the   foreign  field   under 


47°  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

the  direction  of  the  Foreign  Mission  Board  of  the 
General  Synod  North.  This  action  was  carried  out 
with  enthusiasm,  but  the  course  of  the  missionary  who 
was  thus  sent  out  involved  this  promising  movement 
in  total  failure. 

The  fifteenth  and  last  convention  of  the  General 
Synod  South,  held  at  Roanoke,  Va.,  June  23,  1886,  was 
made  memorable  by  two  events.  The  first  was  the 
report  of  its  Committee  on  a  Common  Service  that  at 
a  full  meeting  of  the  three  committees,  held  in  Phila- 
delphia, in  May,  1885, "a scheme  of  the  normal  service 
of  the  Lutheran  Church  "  had  been  agreed  upon  with- 
out dissent,  and  that  this  had  been  subsequently  and 
with  absolute  unanimity  approved  and  adopted  by 
the  General  Synod  at  Harrisburg.  The  other  was  the 
merging  of  the  General  Synod  South  into  "the  United 
Synod  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  the 
South,"  a  union  consummated  between  the  General 
Synod  and  the  Tennessee  and  the  Holston  Synods  in 
accordance  with  a  previous  understanding  and  prelim- 
inary arrangements. 

Two  ways  stood  open  at  this  juncture  to  the  Synods 
which  embrace  nearly  all  the  Lutheran  congregations 
south  of  the  Potomac.  Either  they  must  individually 
enter  into  organic  relations  with  one  of  the  o-eneral 
bodies  that  assert  a  national  compass,  or  else  perpet- 
uating their  sectional  organization  it  behooved  all  of 
them  to  be  incorporated  into  one  body  so  as  to  gain 
the  inestimable  advantage  of  concentration.  The 
strong  current  of  reaction  toward  distinctive  Luther- 
anism  which  was  passing  over  the  entire  Church  had 
especially  affected  the  southern  portion,  and  was  bring- 


The   United  Synod  in  the  South  471 

ing  into  close  sympathy  bodies  which  had  for  many 
years  kept  up  a  sharp  conflict  with  each  other.  A  gen- 
eral and  sincere  interest  in  their  union  was  therefore 
quite  preceptible  and  the  realization  was  recognized 
as  alike  feasible  and  in  the  highest  decree  desirable. 

The  Tennessee  Synod  made  a  formal  deliverance 
on  this  subject  which  soon  called  out  a  hearty 
response  from  the  Synods  of  North  and  South 
Carolina,  Georgia  and  Virginia.  The  General  Synod 
at  its  session  in  Charleston,  1884,  declared  itself  "un- 
willing to  have  these  divisions  continue  any  longer 
without  an  earnest  effort  on  their  part  to  remove 
them,"  and  while  acknowledging  the  fidelity  of  the 
Tennessee  Synod  in  its  defense  of  the  faith,  it  ex- 
pressed its  own  devotion  to  the  same  precious  truth, 
and  argued  that  the  causes  for  separation  having 
passed  away  there  should  now  be  on  the  ground  of  a 
unity  of  the  faith  a  formal  realization  of  it  in 
practice. 

A  commission  was  constituted  "  consisting  of  one  or- 
dained minister  and  one  lay  member  of  the  various 
district  Synods,  who  shall  meet  in  conference  with  the 
Committee  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Tennessee 
Synod  for  the  purpose  of  maturely  considering  this 
subject  etc." 

The  Diet  or  Colloquium  to  consider  the  project  of 
an  organic  union  was  held  at  Salisbury,  N.  C,  Novem- 
ber 12  and  13,  1884.  It  was  composed  of  Commis- 
sioners from  the  General  Synod  South  and  delegates 
from  all  the  Southeran  Synods  except  that  of  Missis- 
sippi.   The  spirit  of  harmony  ruled  this  convention. 

The     basis    for     union     which      was      unanimously 


472  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

adopted  accepts  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  the  only 
standard  of  doctrine  and  Church  discipline,  and  the 
Ecumenical  Creeds  and  the  Unaltered  Augsburg 
Confession  as  "  a  true  and  faithful  exhibition  of  the 
doctrines  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  regard  to 
matters  of  faith  and  practice."  The  other  Lu- 
theran Symbols  were  declared  to  be  "true  and 
scriptural  developments  of  the  doctrines  taught  in  the 
Augsburg  Confession,  and  in  the  perfect  harmony 
of  one  and  the  same  pure,  Scriptural  faith." 

A  constitution  to  be  submitted  to  the  different 
bodies  represented  was  also  agreed  upon.  It  allowed 
the  new  body  only  advisory  powers  except  in  such 
matters  "as  pertain  to  the  general  interests  or  opera- 
tions of  the  Church,"  namely  liturgies,  theological 
seminaries,  foreign  missions,  important  home  mission- 
ary operations  etc. 

The  General  Synod  at  its  next  meeting  in  Roanoke, 
Va.,  June  23,  1886,  gave  its  cordial  approval  to  this 
basis,  regarding  it  "as  essentially  identical  with  its 
present  doctrinal  basis,"  and  also  accepted  the  consti- 
tution as  satisfactory.  Similar  action  had  already 
been  taken  by  the  Tennessee  and  Holston  Synods. 
As  their  representatives  wrere  present  at  Roanoke 
only  the  formalities  were  required  for  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  body  contemplated  and  these  being  execu- 
ted with  entire  unanimity,  "the  United  Synod  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  the  South,"  was  form- 
ed. The  Church  of  that  section  has  thus  come  into 
one  compact  and  harmonious  body,  working  unitedly 
and  with  a  new  impetus  for  the  advancement  of  the 
Gospel,    notwithstanding   the  fact  that  there  exist  di- 


474  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

versities  of  opinion  and  practice  as  marked  as  those 
which  still  divide  the  Church  in  other  parts  of  the 
country. 

This  happy  result  must  in  the  main  be  ascribed  to 
the  peculiar  development  of  the  Southern  General 
Synod.  Feeble  in  members  and  resources,  it  was 
called  upon  by  extraordinary  circumstances  to  break 
away  from  its  former  associations.  It  was  thus  en- 
abled to  plant  itself  definitely  upon  the  Church's  Con- 
fession and  to  issue  a  Book  of  Worship  with  Cate- 
chism, Confession  and  Prayers,  that  has  had  an 
immense  educational  influence  in  promoting  unity  of 
faith  and  uniformity  of  worship,  in  cementing  the 
hearts  of  the  people  to  their  church,  and  preparing 
them  for  earnest  co-operation  with  all  in  whom  they 
recognize  like  precious  faith  and  who  are  ruled  by  the 
same  spirit.  The  numerical  strength  of  the  United 
Synod  embraced  in  1888,  8  district  synods,  186  minis- 
ters, 392  congregations,  and  33,625  communicants. 
Besides  the  Educational  Institutions  already  named 
as  under  the  auspices  of  the  Tennessee  Synod,  there 
are  in  the  bounds  of  the  United  Synod,  colleges  at 
Salem,  Va.,  Mt.  Pleasant,  N.  C,  Newberry,  S.  C.  ,with  a 
theological  department;  and  Female  Seminaries  at 
Staunton,  Marion  and  Wytheville,  Va.,  and  at  Mt 
Pleasant  and  Charlotte,  N.  C. 

If  the  growth  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  the  South 
has  been  relatively  slow,  this  is  in  part  undoubtedly 
due  to  the  absence  of  immigration.  It  has  not  been 
wanting  in  church  love  nor  in  church  activity  com- 
mensurate   with    its    opportunity.      And   it  has   been 


Tfie   United  Synod  in  the  South.  475 

honored   by  a   large  proportion  of  able,  eminent  and 
consecrated  divines. 

Towering  above  all  others  was  the  Rev.  John 
Bachman,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Ph.  D.  (Berlin),  for  nearly 
sixty  years  pastor  of  St.  John's,  Charleston,  which 
under  his  ministry  became  the  most  influential  con- 
gregation in  the  South.  He  took  a  profound  interest 
in  the  general  work  of  the  Church,  and  his  influence, 
while  he  stood  in  connection  with  the  General  Synod 
or  with  the  General  Synod  South,  was  always  thrown 
on  the  side  of  a  large,  unselfish  and  permanent  policy. 
To  him  chiefly  the  college  and  seminary,  both  now 
located  at  Newberry,  S.  C,  owe  their  existence. 
From  him  came  the  first  suggestion  of  a  Common 
Service.  The  dignity,  force  and  simplicity  of  his  per- 
sonal character  gave  Dr.  Bachman  a  wide  fame 
throughout  the  Southern  States,  but  his  greatest 
distinction  was  that  of  a  man  of  science.  He  was  in 
the  first  rank  of  ornithologists  in  his  day.  With 
Audubon,  whose  two  sons  married  his  two  daughters, 
he  prepared  "The  Birds  of  America  "  and  "The 
Quadrupeds  of  America."  He  was  a  member  of 
numerous  scientific  societies  and  numbered  amongr  his 
correspondents  such  men  as  Humboldt  and  Agassiz. 

No  other  man  on  that  territory  has  greater  claims 
on  the  reverent  memory  of  his  church  than  David  F. 
Bittle,  D.  D.  His  self-sacrificing  and  successful  labors 
as  President  of  Roanoke  College,  his  indomitable 
world-conquering  faith,  his  pulpit  unction  and  power 
and  exalted  Christian  character,  place  his  name  on  the 
scroll  of  immortality. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

THE    LUTHERAN    CHURCH    AND    CULTURE. 

THE  first  to  liberate  the  human  mind  from  mediae- 
val darkness  and  error,  the  Lutheran  Church 
has  always  fostered  thorough  intellectual  culture. 
She  is  distinguished  as  "the  church  of  theologians." 
Her  scholarswere  the  principal  teachersof  Christendom 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  they  have  within  the  pres- 
ent, century  restored  the  glories  of  the  best  age  of 
Christian  learning.  "Her  wonderful  literature,  her 
great  universities,  her  systems  of  popular  education 
are  felt  by  the  world." 

The  Reformation  under  Luther  made  an  epoch  in 
education  as  well  as  in  religion.  The  debasing  super- 
stitions against  which  the  battle  was  waged  derived 
their  strength  from  ignorance.  A  reforming  Church 
must  spread  the  light  of  knowledge.  Recovering  her 
true  character  the  Church  cannot  be  unmindful  of  her 
function  as  teacher.  She  kindles  the  highest  powers 
of  the  human  mind  and  then  employs  them  to  en- 
lighten the  world.  Education  is  at  once  her  duty 
and  the  most  effective  instrumentality  for  extending 
her  sway. 

The  Lutheran  Church  took  organic  form  with  this 
instrument  in  her  hands.  Her  cause  was  from  the 
outset  the  cause  of  learning.  She  arose  into  distinct- 
ive beinor  identified  with  the  highest  educational  in- 
stitutions.     The  Reformers,  every  man  of  them,  occu- 

476 


TJie  Lutheran  Church  and  Culture.  477 

pied  university  chairs.  The  superiority  of  her  doctors 
became  a  current  argument  for  her  doctrine.  Witten- 
berg- was  the  focus  of  the  errand  revolution.  In  its 
lecture-rooms,  and  a  little  later  in  those  of  Leipsic, 
Jena,  and  T'bingen,  were  found  freedom  of  inquiry 
and  freedom  of  teaching,  and  thence  shone  forth  the 
living  rays  which  turned  the  darkness  into  light. 

While  sustaining  and  developing  those  illustrious 
institutions  which  are  still  the  pride  of  Europe,  and  to 
which  the  learned  men  of  England  and  America  ever 
repair  to  complete  their  education,  the  genius  of  Lu- 
theranism  has  been  equally  zealous  in  establishing 
schools  for  the  masses.  Luther's  writings  and  espe- 
cially his  translation  of  the  Bible  set  the  people  to 
reading,  made  them  eager  for  knowledge,  and  with  the 
new  energy  awakened  in  every  sphere  prepared  them 
for  those  measures  of  general  instruction  to  which  the 
Reformers  gave  their  earnest  attention.  Popular  edu- 
cation dates  from  the  Reformation,  and  certainly 
no  other  countries  have  furnished  such  thorough,  gen- 
erous and  universal  systems  of  instruction  as  those  in 
which  the  Lutheran  creed  has  been  predominant. 
There  are  no  illiterates  in  Lutheran  lands.  Other 
nations  have  from  ten  to  eighty  per  cent. 

This  jewel  was  happily  not  lost  in  the  trying  pro- 
cess of  transplanting  the  church  into  a  new  world. 
The  earliest  preachers  had  received  a  liberal  trainino-. 
Of  the  Swedish  pastors'  of  the  seventeenth  century,  it 
is  recorded  that  with  few  exceptions  they  were  men  of 
liberal  culture,  "eminent  alike  for  learning,  pulpit 
power  and  fervent  piety."  Acrelius  and  von  Wrancel 
of  the  last  century  were  "distinguished  and  scholarly 


47S  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

men."  The  patriarch  Muhlenberg  and  a  number  of 
his  colleagues  could  speak  fluently  a  half  dozen  lan- 
guages, including  ancient  and  modern.  Long  before 
the  Lutheran  Church  was  able  to  found  academic  in- 
stitutions, a  number  of  her  clergy  received  the  title  of 
Doctor  of  Divinity  from  the  colleges  of  other  denom- 
inations. Some  of  them  were  elected  College  Trustees 
and  such  was  their  recognized  zeal  in  the  cause  of 
science  that  they  were  specially  welcomed  to  com- 
mencements and  enrolled  among  the  learned  societies 
of  America  and  Europe. 

Dr.  Kunze's  varied  acquirements  made  him  "an 
ornament  of  the  American  republic  of  letters."  He 
was  professor  of  Oriental  languages  in  Columbia 
College,  having  in  that  domain  no  superior  in 
America,  and  doing  more  than  any  other  individual 
of  his  day  "to  promote  a  taste  for  Hebrew  literature." 
"He  was  deservedly  recognized  as  among  the  very 
first  of  scholars,  and  cherished  by  the  learned  and 
liberal  of  every  denomination  as  an  example  of  the 
refined  influence  which  elevated  pursuits  so  uniformly 
stamp  on  human  character." 

Dr.  Helmuth,  who  succeeded  him  as  Professor  in 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  "had  a  richly  en- 
dowed and  well  cultivated  mind,"  and  published  a  vol- 
ume of  hymns,  and  other  religious  works.  His  col- 
league, Rev.  J.  F.  Schmidt,  was  an  accomplished 
astronomer  and  mathematician.  H.  E.  Muhlenberg, 
besides  being  a  profound  theologian,  an  original 
thinker,  a  celebrated  Orientalist,  and  a  proficient  in 
almost  every  department  of  science  and  literature, 
made  a  specialty  of  Natural  History,   in  particular  of 


The  Lutheran   Church  and  Culture.  479 

Botany,  in  which  he  became  an  authority  and  gained 
the  title  of  "  the  American  Linnaeus."  He  carried  on 
an  extensive  correspondence  with  the  foremost  nat- 
uralists of  Europe,  and  through  the  newspapers  and 
other  publications  contributed  much  to  the  progress 
of  Natural  Science.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Philosophical  Society  and  quite  a  number  of 
philosophical  and  physical  societies  in  Europe. 

That  the  Lutheran  people  of  the  last  century  were 
generally  not  illiterate,  is  pretty  clearly  indicated  by 
the  fact  that  half  of  Franklin's  printing  of  books  and 
purely  literary  matter  was  for  the  Germans. 

The  fathers  had  received  their  culture  at  European 
Universities.  Unfortunately  the  first  generation  of 
native  ministers  could  enjoy  no  such  facilities.  Re- 
peated efforts  to  found  higher  institutions  had 
proved  abortive,  or  perished  in  the  storms  of  the 
Revolution,  and  the  Church  did  not  control  a  single 
classical  or  theological  school,  excepting  the  share 
she  had  in  Franklin  College,  founded  in  1787.  This 
was  due  to  the  straitened  circumstances  of  the 
people  and  above  all  to  the  language  problem.  A 
German  institution  would  have  been  under  the  circum- 
stances an  exotic,  repelling  the  patronage  of  Americans. 
And  an  English  institution  could  not  be  maintained 
until  the  Lutheran  population  had  become  more 
thoroughly  anglicised. 

In  theory  the  Church  always  asserted  a  high  stand- 
ard of  training  for  her  ministers.  No  young  man 
said  the  General  Synod  at  its  first  meeting,  is  to  be 
admitted  to  the  study  of  theology  before  he  has  ob- 
tained a  diploma  or  its  equivalent.  And  she  has  at  all 


480  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

times  been  honored  with  a  fair  proportion  of  learned 
divines  whose  range  of  culture  placed  them  alongside 
of  the  foremost  scholars  of  the  country.  We  need 
but  instance  the  Schaeffers,  Schmuckers,  Krauths, 
Storks,  Dr.  P.  F.  Mayer,  Dr.  John  Bachman,  and 
Profs.  M.  Jacobs,  H.  L.  Baugher  and  M.  L.  Stoever, 
three  men  whose  solid  attainments  and  whose  abiding- 
success  in  raising  Pennsylvania  College  to  its  honor- 
able rank,  were  only  paralleled  by  their  self-sacrifice 
to  the  cause  of  higher  Christian  education.  That 
leaders  of  such  power  and  prominence  had  as  a  rule 
received  their  own  training  where  another  faith  pre- 
vailed, is  a  circumstance  not  to  be  overlooked  in 
studying  the  tendencies  of  their  day,  and  its  lesson 
should  never  be  forgotten. 

While  the  founding  of  institutions  for  higher  cul- 
ture  had  of  necessity  to  be  delayed  until  colleges  of 
other  denominations  had  been  maintained  for  one  or 
even  two  centuries,  the  instruction  of  the  children  was 
from  the  beginning  made  a  leading  function  of  the 
Church.  The  first  Lutherans  brought  with  them  from 
the  fatherland  the  parish  school,  and,  straitened  and 
widely  dispersed  as  they  were,  they  could  no  more 
dispense  with  these  Christian  nurseries  for  their 
children  than  with  the  Church  itself.  A  congregation 
without  its  school  was  not  to  be  thought  of.  Even 
when  there  was  no  pastor,  the  congregation  must 
secure  a  teacher.  Beside  the  rude  log  church  a 
school-house  always  arose,  and  it  is  suggestive  that 
Muhlenberg,  who  is  said  to  have  never  lost  sight  of 
the  training  of  the  children,  and  who  at  first  person- 
ally gave  instructions  in  the  rudiments,  built  a  school- 


The  Lutheran  Church  and  Ctiltzire.  48  r 

house  at  the  Trappe  even  before  he  began  the 
erection  of  a  house  of  worship.  Significant  likewise, 
is  the  fact  that  the  second  topic  which  engaged  the 
attention  of  the  first  synodical  meeting  "was  the  con- 
dition of  the  Parochial  Schools  ;  each  pastor  laid  be- 
fore the  Synod  the  actual  state,  the  wants  and  pros- 
pects of  his  school." 

Our  fathers  held  that  the  young  should  be  trained 
inside  the  church  and  not  outside  of  it;  that  educa- 
tion should  be  in  the  hands  of  Christian  teachers, 
should  be  seasoned  and  conserved  with  the  Gospel 
should  include  the  moral  as  well  as  the  intellectual 
nature,  and  that  it  is  a  function  worthy  of  and  incum- 
bent on  the  pastor,  who  indeed  was  often  the  main  if 
not  the  sole  teacher  of  the  parish  school.  What  the 
Church  has  gained  by  abandoning  this  institution  and 
leaving  her  children  to  the  mercy  of  secular  educa- 
tion, is  a  question  of  no  little  consequence.  It  should 
be  carefully  pondered  along  with  the  more  general 
inquiry  as  to  the  measure  of  advantage  which  any 
church  derives  from  the  surrender  of  inherited  bless- 
ings for  the  sake  of  conforming  to  other  denomina- 
tions and  keeping  in  line  with  the  spirit  of  the  times. 

In  these  schools  the  children  were  thoroughly  in- 
doctrinated in  God's  Word,  as  well  as  taught  the  ele- 
ments of  a  secular  education.  Receiving  religious 
instruction  from  competent  teachers  six  days  of  the 
week,  they  became  rooted  in  the  faith  of  the  Church, 
and  laid  the  foundations  of  those  solid  virtues  forwhich 
the  Lutheran  people  were  always  distinguished.  Prior 
to  the  establishment  of  the  common  schools  the  Penn- 
sylvania Synod  had  hundreds  of  these  church  schools. 


482  The  Lutherans  hi  America. 

The  corporation  of  Zion  Church,  Philadelphia,  main- 
tained four,  and  their  grand  work  was  at  one  time  rec- 
ognized by  the  donation  of  five  thousand  acres  of 
land  from  the  State  of  Pennsylvania. 

It  costs  a  pang  to  write  here  that,  so  far  as  known, 
hardly  a  solitary  parish  school  exists  to-day  in  the 
English  portion  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  although  its 
poignancy  is  somewhat  relieved  by  the  knowledge  that 
several  thousand  are  maintained  by  the  German  and 
Scandinavian  congregations. 

While  holding  that  all  education  should  have  a 
Christian  character,  and  conforming,  in  the  days  of 
her  poverty,  her  universal  practice  to  this  ideal,  the 
crowning  feature  of  the  Lutheran  Church  is  her  sys- 
tem of  specific  Christian  instruction  to  the  young- 
The  book  she  prizes  next  to  Holy  Scriptures  is  her 
Catechism,  a  treasure  not  equalled  in  any  other  church, 
and  which  is  said  to  have  the  widest  circulation  of  any 
uninspired  volume. 

A  minister  without  this  Catechism  is  an  anomaly  in 
the  Lutheran  Church.  He  is  out  of  his  element.  He 
has  missed  his  calling.  An  unfailing  tribute  paid  by 
every  historian  to  the  fathers,  is  their  fidelity  in  cate- 
chisation  and  their  success  in  preparing  by  this  means 
candidates  for  confirmation.  No  work  of  greater  spir- 
itual power  is  on  record  anywhere.  To  these  instruc- 
tions thousands  attributed  their  conversion.  To  them 
is  to  be  ascribed  in  large  measure  the  revived  and 
blooming  state  of  the  Church  in  their  day. 

Whatever  derelictions  may  have  since  then  been 
chargeable  to  individuals,  or  to  measures  in  conflict 
with  the  Lutheran   system,  neither  the  leaders  of  the 


484  The.  Lutherans  in  America. 

Church  nor  any  of  its  bodies  have  ever  failed  to  bear 
their  testimony  to  this  invaluable  medium  of  saving 
the  young  and  preserving  the  Church  of  God.  One 
of  the  first  acts  of  the  General  Synod  was  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  committee  to  prepare  a  Catechism,  "the 
present  state  of  the  church  requiring  an  English  edi- 
tion." A  report  presented  to  the  General  Synod  at 
York,  1835,  declares:  "If  it  had  not  been  for  that  ex- 
cellent course  of  lectures,  which  is  given  to  our  young 
people  preparatory  to  confirmation,  our  people  would 
in  a  great  measure,  have  remained  altogether  stran- 
ofers  to  the  power  of  p-odliness."     Dr.  Hazelius  in  his 

o  1  o 

History  of  the  American  Lutheran  Church,  1845,  °b- 
serves :  "  Many  of  us  still  remember  the  time  when  re- 
missness in  the  religious  instruction  of  children  was  a 
fault  in  our  preachers,  seldom  discovered  but  least  for- 
given ;  and  can  we  forget,  that  this  instruction  pecu- 
liar to  the  German  churches  created  so  strong  an  at- 
tachment to  the  Church  that  it  almost  amounted  to  a 
fault?  This  instruction  is  now  sparingly  imparted,  and 
what  is  the  consequence?  The  attachment  to  the  church 
has  been  weakened  so  much  that  the  causes  of  this 
alarming  fact  have  frequently  been  made  the  subject 
of  inquiry  in  our  church  paper,  and  we  are  sorry  to 
say  that  among  all  the  causes  assigned,  we  have 
missed  the  one  which  is  at  the  root  of  the  evil,  viz.: 
'The  remissness  of  many  of  our  pastors  in  the  religious 
instruction  of  youths  ?  '  " 

One  of  the  most  laudable  features  of  Lutheran  edu- 
cational work  is  the  care  of  the  orphan.  By  no  other 
sign  does  she  more  clearly  testify  that  she  has  the 
spirit  of  God  "in  whom  the  fatherless  findeth  mercy." 


The  Lutheran  Church  and  Culture.  485 

When  we  recall  the  instrumentalities  by  which  the 
Lutheran  Church  came  into  organic  being  in  America, 
it  may  be  said  that  she  had  her  birth  in  an  Orphan 
House.  That  glorious  institution  at  Halle  communi- 
cated  the  breath  of  life  to  the  unorganized  mass  ready 
to  perish  on  these  shores,  and  from  that  same  fount- 
ain the  Church  was  nursed  for  fifty  years.  The 
great  preachers  of  that  period  were  graduates  of  that 
orphanage.  It  is  therefore  not  surprising  to  read  that 
"one  feature  marked  all  the  early  Lutheran  preachers, 
their  attention  to  the  young,  the  poor,  the  sick,  and 
especially  the  widow  and  orphan." 

The  Salzburgers  had  hardly  erected  their  own 
homes  in  the  savannas  of  Georgia,  when  in  1742  they 
founded  an  Orphan  House  with  four  boys  and  four 
girls.  The  same  institution  became  also  an  asylum 
for  the  sick,  and  received  the  warm  sympathy  and  sub- 
stantial support  of  Whitfield,  whose  own  attempt  at  a 
similar  institution  in  Savannah  was  doomed  to  failure. 

The  charge  of  the  orphan,  like  some  other  import- 
ant trusts,  experienced  for  some  time  a  melancholy 
neglect,  but  with  the  revival,  latterly,  of  a  better  church 
life,  a  new  impulse  has  also  been  given  to  this  humane 
and  godly  work.  At  least  thirty-three  Orphan  Homes 
throughout  the  country  are  now  supported  by  the  Lu- 
therans— eight  by  the  Missouri  Synod,  six  by  the 
Swedish  Augustana,  two  by  the  Iowa.  Some  are  not 
specially  connected  with  any  Synod. 

In  connection  with  the  orphanages,  mention  can 
simply  be  made  of  the  hospitals,  about  ten  in  number, 
and  the  Deaconess  Institutes,  the  most  splendid  of 
which  is  the  "Mary  J.  Drexel  Home  and  Philadelphia 


486 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


Mother-house  of  Deaconesses."  The  building  con- 
sists of  a  central  edifice  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
long  and  two  wings  connected  with  it  at  right  angles, 
each  two  hundred  feet  in  length,  the  gift  of  John  D. 
Lankenau,  Esq.,  who  has  also  pledged  himself  for  its 
maintenance    as  long  as  he  lives. 

The  courage,  the  struggles  and  the  self-sacrifice 
by  means  of  which  some  twenty-one  theological  sem- 
inaries and  as  many  colleges  have  been  built  up,  and 
the  work  these  are  doing  for  the  education  of  youth 


CARTHAGE  COLLEGE,  CARTHAGE,  ILL. 

to  serve  in  the  holy  office  and  in  other  influential  sta- 
tions, would  occupy  a  volume.  Reference  to  all  but  a 
few  may  be  found  in  other  chapters.  Wittenberg  Col- 
lege, at  Springfield,  Ohio,  is  a  worthy  monument  of 
Ezra  Keller,  D.  D.,  whose  services  in  pioneer  work  both 
in  the  sphere  of  religion  and  education  can  hardly  be 
overestimated.     Carthage   College,    at  Carthage,    111., 


The  Lutheran  Church  and  Culture.  487 

and  Midland  College,  at  Atchison,  Kan.,  have  but  re- 
cently come  into  being  under  the  auspices  of  the  Gen- 
eral Synod.  They  encounter  the  usual  trials  of  such 
schools,  but  they  command  the  sympathay  and  sup- 
port of  that  body,  and  from  whatever  point  they  may 
be  judged  can  no  longer  be  regarded  as  experiments. 
The  Female  Seminaries  at  Hagerstown,  Luthervilleand 
Mechanicsburg  are  on  the  territory  of  the  General  Syn- 
od, but  receive  patronage  from  all  portions  of  the  church. 
Fourteen  years  ago  an  incomplete  list  of  Lutheran 
publications  made  a  considerable  volume,  compiled 
under  the  name  of  Bibliotheca  Lutherana,  by  Dr.  Mor- 
ris. Since  then  a  large  number  of  valuable  works 
have  been  added,  and  although  no  other  ministers 
have  as  laborious  a  lot  as  the  Lutheran,  and  although 
some  of  the  ablest  men  of  the  Church,  like  Drs.  C.  P. 
Krauth,  Sr.,  J.  A,  Brown,  and  C.  A.  Stork,  have  left 
nothing  more  permanent  and  complete  than  Review 
articles,  yet  the  array  of  Lutheran  literature  makes 
a  substantial  library.  The  first  known  publication 
by  a  Lutheran  in  America  was  a  volume  entitled 
"Grondlycke  Onderricht  von  sekere  Voorname  Hoofd- 
stucken  der  Waren,  Loutern,  Saligmakenden  Chris- 
telycken  Leere,  etc.,  by  Justus  Falckner,  in  1708. 
Schmucker's  translation  of  Storr  and  Flatt's  Biblical 
Theology,  in  1826,  became  a  text-book  in  seminaries 
of  other  churches.  His  Popular  Theology  passed 
through  nine  editions.  Siess'  works  have  a  world- 
wide fame.  Their  titles  fill  many  pages.  Valentine's 
Natural  Theology  is  a  text-book  in  a  number  of 
American  colleges.  C.  F.  Schaeffer's  translation  of 
Kurtz's  Sacred  History  has   been   extensively  used  as 


488 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


a  text-book  in  theological  seminaries.  Krauth's  Con- 
servative Reformation  is  the  masterpiece  of  Lutheran 
authorship  in  this  country.  Sprecher's  Groundwork  of 
Lutheran  Theology  is  a  work  of  rare  ability.  Zieg- 
ler's  Catechetics,  The  Preacher,  and  The  Pastor,  are 
valuable  manuals  for  the  clergy.  Harkey's  Justifica- 
tion by  Faith  should  be  in  every  home.  Dr.  Mann's 
literary  activity  covers,  besides  valuable  English  and 
German  volumes,  a  wide  field  in  the  periodical  litera- 
ture of  America   and   Europe.     Theophilus  Stork,  B. 


LUTHERVILLE   FEMALE   SEMINARY,    LUTHERVILLE,     Md. 

Kurtz,  Greenwald,  C.  W.  Schaeffer,  Spaeth,  Morris, 
Rhodes,  and  Gerberding  have  enriched  the  devotional 
literature  of  the  church.  Profs.  Schodde  and  Weid- 
ner  have  published  valuable  contributions  to  theoloe- 
ical  science.  The  latter's  Introductory  N.  T.  Greek 
Method  is  adopted  in  a  number  of  seminaries.  Wal- 
ther's  "  Kirche  und  Amt,"  "  Evangelien-Postille,"  "  Epis- 
tel-Postille,"  and  "  Pastoral  Theologie,"  have  passed 
through  many  editions.  Seyffarth,  that  prodigy  of 
learning,  wrote  numerous  volumes  on  Egyptology, 
Chronology,   etc.      Bachman's    fame    rests    largely  on 


The  Lutheran   Church  and  Culture.  489 

his  contributions  to  Natural  History.  Profs.  L.  M. 
Haupt  and  S.  P.  Sadtler  have  won  high  distinction  in 
the  ranks  of  scientific  scholarship.  Among  the  most 
important  issues  are  the  translation  of  Schmidt's  Dog- 
matik  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  by  Drs.  Hay  and  Jacobs, 
an  English  edition  of  the  Book  of  Concord,  with  com- 
panion volume  giving  Historical  Introduction,  Notes, 
Appendixes  and  Index,  by  Jacobs,  and  a  revised  edi- 
tion of  Walch's  "  Luther's  Sammtlice  Schriften,"  by  the 
Faculty  of  Concordia  Seminary. 

The  first  periodical  published  was  "  Das  Evangelis- 
che  Magaz in," founded  by  Dr.Helmuth.  "The  Lutheran 
Intelligencer,"  began  in  1826,  with  D.  F.  Schaeffer  as 
editor.  It  was  afterwards  changed  to  the  "Lutheran  Ob- 
server."  "The  Literary  Record,"  a  journal  formerly  pub- 
lished by  the  Linna^an  Association  of  Pennsylvania  Col- 
lege, wasa  scientific  journal  of  great  merit.  "The  Luth- 
eran Standard"  was  begun  in  1841.  "The  Lutheran 
Quarterly"  succeeded  in  1871  "The  Evangelical  Re- 
view," which  was  founded  in  1849.  "The  Lutheran 
Church  Review  "was  founded  in  1882.  "The  Lutheran," 
"The  Lutheran  Evangelist,"  "The  Lutheran  Visitor," 
"Our  Church  Paper"  are  the  other  English  weeklies. 
"The  Workman  "  and  "  The  Lutheran  Witness  "  are  bi- 
monthly. "The  Lutheran  Home,"  "The  Theological 
Magazine,"  "The  Augsburg  Teacher,"  "The  Church 
Messenger,"  and  "  The  Young  Lutheran  "  are  monthlies. 
Besides  these  are  a  number  of  children's  papers,  some 
forty  German  periodicals  and  nearly  as  many  Swed- 
ish, Norwegian,  Danish,  Finnish  and  Icelandic  mes- 
sengers of  light  and  strength  that  regularly  visit  the 
tabernacles  of  godly  Lutherans. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE    LUTHERAN    CHURCH    AND    MISSIONS. 

AN  American  historian  of  reputed  learning  and 
fairness  says:  "The  conversion  of  the  heathen  oc- 
cupied no  place  in  the  thoughts  of  the  great 
leader  of  the  Reformation.  The  followers  of  Luther 
for  more  than  a  century  entertained  the  same  preju- 
dice against  missions."  This  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the 
misrepresentations  of  the   Lutheran   Church. 

The  truth  on  this  point  is  stated  in  Herzog's  Real- 
Encyclopaedie  :  "  Luther  himself  already  seizes  every 
opportunity  offered  by  a  text  of  the  divine  Word 
in  order  to  remind  believers  of  the  distress  of '  the 
Heathen  and  the  Turks '  and  earnestly  urges  them  to 
pray  in  their  behalf  and  to  send  out  missionaries  to 
them.  In  accord  with  him  all  the  prominent  theolo- 
gians and  preachers  of  his  day  and  of  the  succeeding 
period  inculcated  the  missionary  duty  of  the  Church. 
Many  also  of  the  Evangelical  princes  cherished  this 
work  with  Christian  love  and  zeal."  It  was  the  Refor- 
mation with  its  new  spiritual  life  that  once  more  re- 
vived missionary  operations  which  had  entirely  ceased 
in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  and  the 
labors  of  the  Lutheran  Church  were  the  earliest  in 
that  sphere  as  they  have  been  the  most  productive. 
"  All  missions,  Catholic  and  Protestant  alike,  with  the 
benefits  of  every  sort  they  bring  us,  are  in  several  im- 
portant senses  a  debt  which  Christendom  owes  to  Mar- 

490 


4 


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1 


PATHER    HEVER. 


The  Lutheran  Church  and  Missions.  491 

tin  Luther."  So  says  a  learned  representative  of  a 
great  missionary  church.  If  the  Reformers  failed  to 
organize  any  movement  for  the  conversion  of  the  heath- 
en world,  this  failure  might  be  sufficiently  accounted  for 
by  the  prevailing  heathenism  which  had  become  rank 
within  the  limits  of  the  Church,  and  the  uprooting  of 
which  taxed  all  their  thoughts  and  energies.  But  it 
must  further  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Protestant 
nations  had  no  means  of  communication  with  heathen 
countries.  The  hegemony  of  the  seas  was  during 
that  century  in  the  hands  of  the  Catholic  powers, 
Spain  and  Portugal,  while  Lutheran  Germany  had 
neither  commerce  nor  colonies,  the  indispensable  pre- 
requisites in  that  day  for  the  prosecution  of  missions 
outside  the  pale  of  Christendom.  Geographical  open- 
ings are  quite  as  necessary  to  the  spread  of  the  Gospel 
as  the  zeal  inspired  by  the  Lord's  command  and  the 
love  of  humanity.  It  is  the  testimony  of  one  of  the 
most  devoted  living  missionary  champions  that  "  the 
time  had  not  come  for  Protestant  missions."  Self- 
sacrificing  love  and  the  heroism  of  faith  were  present, 
but  the  obstacles  were  insuperable. 

What  manner  of  spirit  was  begotten  from  the  first  by 
the  Lutheran  Reformation  is  attested  by  the  establish- 
ment of  the  first  Protestant  mission  by  Gustavus  Vasa, 
as  early  as  1559,  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen 
Lapps  in  the  extreme  North  of  Sweden,  and  by  the 
noble  efforts  of  his  successors  for  the  prosperity  of 
this  mission.  Where  contiguous  territory  did  not 
offer  a  heathen  population  for  evangelization,  Christ- 
ian princes  like  Christopher  of  Wiirtemberg  and 
Ernst  the  Pious,  Duke  of   Saxe-Gotha,   exhibited  an 


492  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

apostolic  zeal  for  the  general  diffusion  of  evangelical 
doctrine.  To  the  latter  belongs  the  honor  of  intro- 
ducing  the  Lutheran  faith  into  Russia. 

The  Thirty  Years'  War  prostrated  and  desolated 
Germany,  so  that  in  the  seventeenth  century  foreign 
missionary  enterprises  were  absolutely  impossible. 
Yet  the  spirit  of  missions  lived  and  a  circle  of  jurists 
in  Liibeck  "  bound  themselves  to  obedience  to  the 
missionary  mandate,"  and  one  of  them,  Peter  Heyling, 
went  in  1635  as  far  as  Abyssinia,  where  he  translated 
the  New  Testament  into  the  Amchar  language,  gained 
access  to  the  court  and  became  minister  to  the  King. 
The  ultimate  fate  of  his  mission  remains  unknown.  A 
o-eneration  later,  Baron  von  Welz  issued  several  stir- 

■o 

ring  appeals  to  all  "  Orthodox  Christians  of  the 
Auo-sburg  Confession,"  for  the  formation  of  a  Society 
for  the  spread  of  the  Evangelical  Religion,  urging  the 
establishment  at  every  University  of  a  faculty  of  mis- 
sions, and  the  preparation  of  students  for  work  among 
the  heathen.  He  appropriated  36,00©  marks  for  mis- 
sions and  set  out  for  Dutch  Guinea  where  he  soon 
died.  The  great  Leibnitz  conceived  such  an  enthusi- 
asm for  missions  that  "  he  designated  China  as  a 
suitable  field  whither  Lutheran  missionaries  ought  to 
go,  and  even  incoporated  these  thoughts  in  the  consti- 
tution of  the  Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences." 

Denmark  was  the  first  Lutheran  state  to  take  her 
place  among  the  maritime  nations.  This  was  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  The  way  to  heathen  peoples 
was  now  for  the  first  time  opened  to  the  Lutheran 
Church.  And  simultaneously  the  rise  of  Pietism  with 
its  revival  of  practical  Christianity   awakened   a   new 


The  Lutheran   Church  and  Missions.  493 

and  decided  interest  in  the  salvation  of  the  heathen. 
Lutken,  the  Court-preacher  at  Copenhagen,  had  long 
sustained  a  friendly  intercourse  with  Spener  and 
Francke,  when  his  King,  Frederick  IV.,  commissioned 
him  to  encraore  missionaries  for  foreign  lands.  He 
selected  two  pietist  students  at  Halle,  Ziegenbalg 
and  Pliitschau,  who  sailed  for  Tranquebar,  India,  in 
July,  1706.  The  material  support  for  the  mission 
came  from  the  Lutheran  King  of  Denmark,  its  spirit- 
ual   direction     from    Halle     and    especially    its  great 


LUTHERAN   MISSION   CHURCH,    GUNTUR,    INDIA. 

leader,  Augustus  Herman  Francke,  who  seems  to  have 
gotten  the  first  impulse  toward  heathen  evangelization 
from  Leibnitz.  His  mind  once  kindled  with  mission- 
ary ardor  became  remarkably  active  in  the  cause.  As 
founder  of  the  Orphan  House  at  Halle  he  was  indeed 
"providentially  fitted  to  induce  a  spirit  of  devotion  in 
young  missionaries,  and  to  develop  a  missionary 
constituency  at  home."  Halle  was  from  thenceforth 
the  centre  of  mission  activity  for  the  heathen. 


494  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

Ziegenbalg,  "  the  parent  of  Eastern  missions,"  trans- 
lated the  New  Testament  into  the  Tamul  language. 
The  mission  spread  into  the  English  possessions. 
Re-enforced  from  time  to  time  by  a  number  of  excel- 
lent missionaries  from  the  Halle  Orphan  House,  chief 
among  whom  was  Christian  Friedrich  Schwartz,  "the 
patriarch  of  Lutheran  missions,"  it  attained  great 
prosperity,  resulted  in  40,000  conversions,  and  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  successful  evangelization  of 
India  during  the  present  century. 

It  does  not  fall  within  the  scope  of  this  work  to 
trace  the  growth  and  extent  of  missionary  operations 
by  the  Lutherans  of  Europe,  but  as  the  charge  of 
indifference  to  heathen  evangelization  has  found  its 
way  into  historical  works,  it  becomes  a  duty  to  state 
here  that  the  Lutheran  Church  was  carrying  forwara 
on  a  vast  scale  a  successful  mission  in  India  one  hun- 
dred years  before  any  of  the  English  Churches  had  a 
single  missionary  station  in  heathen  lands.  "With 
the  grand  opportunities  afforded  by  its  colonies,  and 
domination  on  the  seas,  England  did  next  to  nothing, 
during  the  eighteenth  century  for  missions."  It  was 
from  Lutheran  Halle  that  "  missionary  zeal  spread 
over  other  countries  and  other  denominations." 

As  the  diffusion  of  the  Scriptures  is  an  essential 
feature  of  missions,  it  is  due  to  the  truth  to  record 
here  the  fact  that  in  this  sphere  also  the  work  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  antedates  the  efforts  of  other 
churches  by  a  hundred  years.  The  British  and  For- 
eign Bible  Society  was  organized  in  London,  March  7, 
1804.  And  this  is  tritely  claimed  as  the  first  institu- 
tion of  the  kind,  whereas  the  Canstein   Biblical  Insti- 


The  Lutheran   Church  and  Missions.         495 

tute,  founded  at  Halle  by  the  private  fortune  of  Baron 
von  Canstein,  began  its  blessed  work  in  1710,  and  has 
since  circulated  many  millions  of  copies  of  Holy  Writ. 
Thousands  of  the  early  Lutherans  in  this  country  had 
in  their  possession  the  Bibles  of  this  institute  for  gene- 
rations before  the  idea  of  any  other  Bible  Society  was 
conceived. 

The  Swedish  colonization  of  America,  it  has  been 
already  noted,  was  distinctively  a  missionary  project. 
And  the  earliest  Lutheran  pastors  on  these  shores 
were  among  the  first,  if  not  absolutely  the  first,  to  pro- 
claim the  knowledge  of  God  to  the  aborigines,  as 
Luther's  Catechism  was  the  first  book  ever  translated 
into  their  language.  And  Muhlenberg's  spiritual  in- 
terest in  the  slaves  is  amonof  the  earliest  instances  of 
such  sympathy  with  that  class  in  Pennsylvania. 

For  two  hundred  years  all  was  missionary  work  in 
this  western  world.  Tranberg  and  other  Swedish  pas- 
tors impaired  their  health  and  shortened  their  lives 
by  extending  their  ministrations  to  the  Episcopalians 
and  German  Lutherans  whom  they  found  in  forlorn 
spiritual  destitution.  Whether  those  devoted  men 
had  their  own  local  congregations  or  not,  they  were 
journeying  to  and  fro,  across  forests,  streams  and 
mountains,  enduring  exposure,  hardships,  perils  and 
sufferings,  seldom  surpassed  by  the  most  thrilling 
records  of  self-sacrifice  among  the  heathen.  They 
were  quite  justly  called  "the  missionaries."  Let  Dr. 
von  Wrangel's  course  as  described  by  Muhlenberg  in 
1762  serve  as  an  illustration  :  "He  preaches  on  Sun- 
day in  the  forenoon  in  Swedish  in  his  own  Church 
(Wicacoa);  in  the  afternoon  he  goes  on  horseback  a 


496 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


distance  of  six  miles  to  a  congregation  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Schuylkill, and  delivers  a  second  sermon; 
in  the  evening  he  again  preaches  in  his  own  church, 
and  this  third  time  in  English.  Every  fourth  week 
he  undertakes  a  laborious  tour  through  the  province 
of  Jersey  to  his  destitute  congregations.  Through 
the  week-days  he  visits  other  scattered  outposts  of  his 
church,  goes  from  place   to  place,   holds   catechisation 


LUTHERAN   MISSION   HOUSE,    RAJAHMUNDRY,    INDIA. 

in  the  houses,  and  in  spite  of  his  indescribable  labors 
and  exertions  among  his  dispersed  sheep,  he  is  willing 
from  time  to  time  to  visit  the  destitute  flocks  of  poor 
German  Lutherans,  and  to  bring  joy  by  administering 
to  them  the  means  of  grace,  although  he  could  give 
convincing  proofs  that  he  has  laid  upon  him  more 
than  enough  work  amone  his  own  nation."  This 
apostolic  portrait  could  be  duplicated  many  times, 
by  men  who  with  unquenchable  zeal  journeyed  over 
immense  distances  and   sought  from   day    to    day    in 


The  Lutheran  Church  and  Missions.  497 

English,  German,  Swedish  and  French,  to  minister  to 
all  classes,  giving-  their  especial  care  to  the  sick,  the 
poor  and  the  inmates  of  prisons. 

The  Church  here  was  born  of  the  spirit  of  missions. 
Her  life  was  nursed  for  years  from  the  bosom  of  the 
mother  churches  of  Europe.  And  although  she  has 
at  times  faltered  under  great  obstacles  or  blighting-  in- 
difference,  she  has  never  wholly  forgotten  the  com- 
mand, "  freely  ye  have  received,  freely  give." 

On  the  first  occasion  of  a  general  assemblage  of  the 
church,  at  the  convention  in  1820,  a  committee  was 
appointed  "to  form  a  plan  for  a  Missionary  Institu- 
tion." And  the  first  meeting  of  the  General  Synod 
earnestly  urged  the  District  Synods  to  send  out  mis- 
sionaries. If  sometimes  disposed  to  lament  that  more 
extensive  operations  were  not  undertaken,  we  should 
remember  that  at  no  time  did  they  have  sufficient  min- 
isters "to  fill  the  vacancies  of  their  immediate  neigh- 
borhoods." Serving  so  many  congregations  that  they 
could  give  them  only  one  sermon  in  four  weeks, 
it  is  very  evident  that  "a  more  efficient  and  sufficient 
supply  of  pastors  "  was  demanded,  before  a  large  num- 
ber could  go  to  the  destitute  regions  of  the  country 
or  any  be  sent  to  the  heathen.  Already  in  the  last 
century  "the  old  synod  appointed  some  itinerant 
preachers  to  visit  for  a  month  or  two  new  settlements 
about  the  skirts  of  our  country,  and  similar  exertions 
were  made  in  almost  every  synod  established  since," 
but  those  who  engaged  in  this  work  had  to  take  the 
time  from  their  own  congregations,  which  were  but 
half  supplied  before.  Such  was  the  missionary  activitv 
of  all  the  synods  for  more  than  a  generation,  and  to 


498  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

this  activity,  desultory  and  unorganized  as  it  was,  the 
church  is  largely  indebted  for  its  power  and  influence 
in  many  parts  of  the  country. 

The  first  issue  of  an  English  journal,  in  1826,  had 
an  article  on  Missions,  and  so  had  every  subsequent 
issue  of  that  year,  a  symptom  of  the  spirit  that  pre- 
vailed in  the  church  and  which  had  long  been  nurtured 
in  congregational  and  synodical  societies.  In  1835 
the  General  Synod  set  apart  an  hour  on  the  first 
Monday  in  every  month,  "in  the  evening  at  early  can- 
dlelight for  concert  prayer  in  all  our  congregations, 
to  petition  the  Lord  for  an  outpouring  of  his  Holy 
Spirit  on  our  churches — that  He  would  call  more  la- 
borers into  the  harvest,  and  revive  a  missionary  spirit 
in  us  and  our  congregations."  At  this  same  meeting 
an  expression  of  feeling  was  asked  from  the  District 
Synods  respecting  the  establishment  of  a  Foreign 
Mission. 

In  1836  the  Pennsylvania  Synod  formed  itself  into 
a  Mission  Society  for  propagating  the  Gospel  among 
the  destitute  portions  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
America  and  "  ultimately  to  co-operate  in  sending  it 
to  the  heathen  world." 

A  Central  Home  Missionary  Society  was  organized 
the  same  year  at  Mechanicsburg,  and  a  "German  For- 
eign Mission  Society"  the  year  following,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  meeting  of  the  General  Synod  at  Hagers- 
town.  Besides  the  members  of  the  latter  body,  forty- 
four  delegates  were  present.  Every  Synod  except 
the  Ohio  and  the  Tennessee  was  represented  in  the 
convention,  great  enthusiasm  prevailed,  and  a  collec- 
tion  of  $300.00  was  lifted.     A  wide-spread  interest  in 


The  Lutheran  Church  and  Missions.  499 

the  cause  was  soon  awakened.  At  the  first  anniver- 
sary of  the  Society,  in  1839,  several  brethren  indi- 
cated their  willingness  to  £0  out  as  missionaries  to 
the  heathen  under  the  auspices  of  this   society. 

The  first  person  selected  was  Rev.  C.  F.  Heyer, 
who  as  a  missionary  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  had 
exhibited  those  rare  qualities  of  faith  and  self-denial, 
simplicity,  energy  and  patience  which  form  the  requi- 
sites for  the  evangelization  of  heathen  lands.  He 
readily  accepted  the  appointment,  in  1841,  but  on  dis- 
covering that  he  was  to  be  placed  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  American  Board,  he  returned  his  com- 
mission. He  then  wrote  to  the  President  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Synod's  Missionary  Society  that  he  "preferred 
eoinof  into  the  heathen  world  under  the  the  direction 
of  an  Evangelical  Lutheran  Missionary  Society, 
rather  than  be  dependent  on  other  Christian  denomi- 
nations," and  offered  to  go  as  their  missionary,  they 
to  name  the  country  for  the  mission,  pay  toward  his 
travelling  expenses  whatever  funds  were  in  its  treasury, 
while  he  himself  would  invest  $1,000  of  his  own 
property  in  support  of  the  Mission.  The  committee 
to  whom  this  letter  was  referred,  found  that  there 
were  "not  sufficient  means  at  hand  to  form  and  main- 
tain a  heathen  mission,"  but  "on  motion  of  Dr. 
Demme,  seconded  by  Dr.  Baker,  it  was  unanimously 
Resolved,  That  we  in  reliance  on  Divine  Providence, 
commence  a  heathen  mission,"  also  that  "we  receive 
brother  Heyer  as  missionary  in  our  service."  His 
offer  of  $1,000  from  his  own  purse  was  declined.  The 
Executive  Committee  took  immediate  measures  to 
send  him  to  Guntur  in  the  Madras  Presidency,  where 


500  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

he  arrived  alone  in  the  spring  of  1842.  The  General 
Society  having  reconsidered  its  proposed  connection 
with  the  American  Board,  sent  out  a  year  later,  Rev. 
Walter  Gunn  to  the  same  field.  He  was  cordially 
welcomed  by  Rev.  Heyer,  as  a  fellow-laborer  in  the 
cultivation  of  that  promising  field  which  has  since 
yielded  an  extraordinary  harvest.  The  two  societies 
adopted  in  1845  a  plan  of  Union,  each  remaining  dis- 
tinct, appointing  and  maintaining  its  own  missionaries, 
but  occupying  the  same  district,  "having  but  one  in- 
terest and  one  aim  in  the  foreign  field,  the  joint  mis- 
sion to  be  known  as"the  American  Lutheran  Mission." 
Mr.  Heyer  remained  in  charge  of  the  field  for  four- 
teen years,  returning  at  the  age  of  65  to  America. 
The  mission  then,  1857,  embraced  three  principal 
stations,  Guntur,  Palnad  and  Rajahmundry,  Samulcotta 
being  added  later.  The  Pennsylvania  Synod  having 
united  with  the  General  Synod,  the  direction  of  the 
mission  devolved  wholly  upon  the  General  Foreign 
Missionary  Society.  When  this  was  so  weakened  by 
the  division  in  1866,  as  to  be  unable  to  carry  the 
whole  interest,  it  relinquished  the  Rajahmundry  and 
Samulcotta  stations.  In  1869  the  General  Council  un- 
dertook the  care  of  these  and  Father  Heyer,  not  far 
from  eighty  years  of  age,  hastened  once  more  to  India 
to  recover  those  fields  and  re-establish  successful 
operations.  Both  bodies  have  since  respectively  pros- 
ecuted the  work  with  zeal  and  vigor.  And  India  has 
had  no  missions  whose  results  are  more  gratifying. 

The  General  Synod  mission  numbers  in  India  to- 
day 11,387  communicants,  gathered  into  335  congre- 
gations.    Besides  the  support  of  7  missionaries  it  em- 


The  Lutheran   Church  and  Missions. 


50i 


ploys  165  gospel  workers,  sustains  152  schools  with  209 
teachers  and  4,108  pupils.  The  Watts  Memorial  Col- 
lege, toward  which  a  single  family  contributed  $10,000, 
has  just  been  established.  For  the  foreign  work  $82,- 
404.71  were  collected  from  April,  1887,  to  April,  1889. 
The  Council's  mission  reports  a  total  of  80  workers, 
1993  baptized  Christians,  and  767  pupils  in  the  schools. 


LUTHERAN  MISSION   HIGH  SCHOOL,   RAJAHMUNDRY,   INDIA. 

A  mission  was  also  founded  in  Africa,  on  the  St. 
Paul's  river,  Liberia,  in  i860,  by  Rev.  M.  Officer.  The 
progress  of  this  work,  the  self-devotion  of  the  succes- 
sive missionaries,  some  of  whom  sacrificed  their  lives  in 
a  deadly  climate,  the  ever-widening  influence  of  this 
fountain  of  grace  in  the  desert,  and  the  testimony  of 
travellers  to  its  blessed  character,  would  cover  many 
bright  pages. 

Other  bodies  co-operate  either  with  these  two  Gen- 
eral Bodies  in  Foreign  Missions  or  with  European 
Societie  s  . 

To  the  Home  Mission  work    the   Lutheran    Church 


502  The  Ltitherans  in  Amercia. 

has  a  peculiar  call.  Besides  the  ordinary  opportuni- 
ties for  extending  Christ's  Kingdom  through  the  con- 
stant expansion  of  the  native  population,  there  are 
annually  coming  to  this  country  and  spreading  over 
every  part  of  it,  hundreds  of  thousands  who  have  been 
baptized,  instructed  and  confirmed  by  the  Lutheran 
Church,  and  who  require  now  her  fostering  care  in 
order  to  be  gathered  again  into  her  bosom.  If  they 
can  but  have  a  faithful  Lutheran  pastor  they  form,  in 
a  few  years,  flourishing  congregations. 

The  General  Synod  has  organized  its  work  effect- 
ively, supporting  annually  over  ioo  missionaries  and 
aiding  in  the  erection  of  30  to  40  church-buildings.  The 
combined  collections  for  both  these  causes  for  the  bi- 
ennium  ending  March  31,  1889,  was  $125,000.  The  fund 
of  the  Church  Extension  Board  amounts  to  $133,320. 

In  the  Council  this  work  is  only  in  part  done  by  the 
three  boards  of  the  General  Body,  but  its  extent  and 
success  are  likewise  commendable.  Not  less  than  two 
hundred  missionaries  are  laboring  in  different  sections 
and  among  various  nationalities,  and  the  sum  of 
$50,000  is  annually  expended.  The  Joint  Synod  of 
Ohio  reports  thirty  missions.  The  union  of  the 
Southern  Synods  has  evidently  quickened  the  mission- 
ary pulse  in  those  parts,  and  the  flourishing  missions 
founded  in  several  cities  bespeak  the  increased  ac- 
tivity that  has  set  in.  A  vast  work  in  this  sphere  is 
done  by  the  Missourians,  the  Iowans,  the  Norwegians 
and  others,  the  majority  of  their  pastors  being  mis- 
sionaries even  where  they  serve  also  self-sustaining 
congregations,  pushing  the  work  in  almost  every  town 
and   city,  the  people    being  liberal   in  their  offerings. 


The  Lutheran  Church  and  Missions.  503 

A  children's  Missionary  Society  under  the  auspices  of 
the  General  Synod  has  been  efficient  both  in  stimulat- 
ing interest  and  in  raising  funds.  The  most  notable 
advance  in  thiscause  is  the  organization  of  the  Women's 
Missionary  Society  within  the  same  body,  which  on  the 
occasion  of  its  tenth  anniversary  discovered  its  collec- 
tions to  have  reached  the  sum  of  $100,000. 

A  few  examples  of  successful  missions  are  subjoined: 
Grace  English  Lutheran  Church  was  organized  in 
Baltimore,  September  13,  i885,with  forty-one  members. 
Within  four  years  that  congregation  has  grown  to 
622  communicants,  and  conducts  a  Sunday-school 
numbering  650.  It  received  aid  from  the  boards  for 
several  years  and  now  owns  a  property  worth  $30,000, 
has  an  annual  revenue  of  $4,000  and  contributes  to 
benevolence  $500. 

The  Church  of  the  Redeemer  in  Utica,  N.  Y.,  was 
organized  April  27,  1879  with  28  communicants.  To- 
day it  numbers  400,  with  a  "  Sunday-school  enrolment 
of  about  325  and  an  almost  equal  number  in  its  mis- 
sion school."  It  has  received  no  assistance  from  any 
Synod  or  mission  board,  owns  a  property  that  cost 
$35,000  and  has  an  annual  income  of  between  $3,000 
and  $4,000.  The  pastor  of  this  congregation  writes 
that  there  is  a  parallel  to  it  at  Buffalo,  and  that  he 
assisted  during  the  past  year  in  organizing  two  mis- 
sions in  other  cities  of  New  York,  "which  bid  fair  to 
excel  this  record.  None  of  the  four  have  received 
any  mission  aid." 

Other  instances  with  results  equally  encouraging 
might  be  cited. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

OBLIGATIONS    OF    OTHER    COMMUNIONS    TO    THE 
LUTHERAN    CHURCH. 

SO  great  and  so  various  is  the  debt  which  the 
Christian  world  owes  by  common  consent  to  the 
Lutheran  reformation  that  it  is  impossible  to  ex- 
press the  full  extent  of  it.  It  broke  the  power  of  the 
papacy ;  it  tore  asunder  the  fetters  of  priestly  rule  ;  it 
restored  the  Church  to  her  freedom  ;  it  put  her  once 
more  in  possession  of  the  divine  Scriptures.  From 
Wittenberg  as  the  centre  the  wave  of  reform  swept 
onward  until  it  reached  the  boundaries  of  Europe, 
purifying  and  reviving  the  Christianity  of  different 
nations.  The  writings  of  Luther  and  the  disciples  of 
Luther,  as  if  wings  had  been  given  them  from  heaven, 
were  found  everywhere  spreading  the  light  of  salvation 
by  grace>  and  in  an  amazingly  brief  period  a  reformed 
church  replaced  the  corrupt  hierarchy  throughout  the 
greater  part  of  Germany,  in  Denmark,  Sweden  and 
Norway,  in  a  number  of  Swiss  Cantons,  in  Hungary, 
Holland,  England  and  Scotland. 

The  revolution  from  various  causes  took  on  a  dif- 
ferent form  in  some  of  these  countries,  and  there  soon 
came  to  be  known  besides  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church,  the  Episcopal,  the  Reformed,  the  Presbyterian, 
and  later  a  number  of  other  bodies,  evolved  from  these, 
have  sucessively  taken  their  place  among  Christian 
denominations. 

The  Lutheran  Church  holds  the  preeminence  over 

504 


Obligations  of  other  Communions.  505 

all,  first  by  the  fact  of  her  antedating  every  one  by  a 
number  of  years.  She  was  so  well  recognized  as  a 
distinct  factor  long  before  the  Reformation  developed 
beyond  her  pale,  that  all  the  earliest  reformers  in 
every  country  were  called  Lutherans.  But  priority 
in  time  is  a  wholly  inadequate  exhibition  of  the  re- 
lation between  the  Lutheran  Church  and  others. 
That  relation  is  genetic.  It  is  the  truism  of  history 
that  the  Lutheran  is  the  parent  Evangelical  Church. 
She  is  the  mother  of  Protestantism.  Historically  all 
other  Evangelical  Churches  have  sprung  from  her. 
Their  presence  is  the  expansion  of  the  Lutheran 
Reformation.  They  owe  their  existence  to  the  prin- 
ciples she  so  earnestly  and  triumphantly  maintained, 
to  her  translation  of  the  Bible,  and  to  the  saving 
doctrines  her  leaders  proclaimed  at  the  hazard  of 
their  lives.  Her  Confession,  which  was  from  the  be- 
ginning clearly  recognized  as  the  genuine  expression 
and  symbol  of  her  being,  is  the  mother  Confession, 
the  standard  of  pure  and  original  Protestantism,  "the 
greatest  of  all  the  Reformed  Confessions  "says  Bishop 
Bull,  as  well  as  the  first.  "  It  struck  the  keynote,"  says 
Dr.  Schaff,  "to  the  other  Evangelical  Confessions." 
And  it  is  so  broad,  so  comprehensive,  so  scriptural 
that  it  has  at  different  times  been  siened  or  acknowl- 
edged  by  great  Reformed  Doctors  and  Princes,  by  Cal- 
vin, Farel,  and  Beza,  by  Frederick  1 1 1,  of  the  Palatinate, 
Sigismund  of  Brandenburg,  and  the  Great  Elector. 

Inasmuch  as  nearly  all  the  great  Protestant  Form- 
ulas are  based  upon  the  Augsburg  Confession,  the 
substance  of  it  and  often  the  language  being  incorpo- 
rated into  them,  and  inasmuch  as  it  maintains  that  "in 


506  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

doctrine  and  ceremonials  among  us  there  is  nothing 
received  contrary  to  Scripture  or  the  Church  Univer- 
sal," the  responsibility  for  putting  forth  tenets  in  con- 
flict with  this  confession,  promulgating  other  creeds 
and  thereby  organizing  divisions  in  the  Protestant 
host,  does  not  lie  with  the  Lutherans.  They  have  not 
departed  from  the  original  Evangelical  stream,  others 
have.  At  the  German  Church  Diet  in  Berlin,  1853. 
1400  clergymen  representing  the  Lutherans,  Reformed, 
United  and  Moravians,  joined  in  a  public  acknowl- 
edgment of  this  confession,  testifying  their  agreement 
with  it  "  as  the  oldest,  simplest,  common  document  of 
publicly  recognized  Evangelical  doctrine  in  Germany." 
The  hope  has  often  been  expressed  in  other 
churches  that  "it  may  one  day  become  the  United 
Confession  or  Ecumenical  Creed  of  all  the  Evangel- 
ical Churches  in  Germany."  If  broad  enough  to 
embrace  the  Evangelical  Christendom  of  Germany,  it 
must  be  sufficiently  comprehensive  for  the  Evangelical 
Christendom  of  the  World.  Such  admissions  on  the 
part  of  intelligent  Protestants  are  tantamount  to  the 
recognition  of  the  Lutheran  Church  as  the  mother  of 
them  all.  They  have  gone  out  from  her,  not  she 
from  them.  She  is  not  a  "  sister  denomination."  The 
sisters  are  her  daughters.  It  is  historically  untrue,  it 
is  unjust  and  misleading,  to  represent  the  Lutheran 
Church  as  a  branch  of  the  Evangelical  Church.  She 
is  the  strong  body,  the  massive  and  living  trunk  from 
which  they  all  have  sprung,  and  on  which  they  still 
depend.  Into  these  branches,  their  leaves,  their  bloom, 
their  fruit,  her  life  has  been  transfused.  Her  teach- 
ings, her  literature, her  hymns,  her  liturgies,  have  passed, 


Obligations  of  other  Communions.  507 

and  continue  directly  or  indirectly  to   pass,  into  these 
Churches  beyond  what  many  think  or  dream. 

In  the  case  of  some  communions,  particularly  the 
Church  of  Ensfl-md  ancl  her  daughter,  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  this  indebtedness  is  quite  obvious 
and  unquestioned.  The  English  Reformation  had  its 
origin  in  the  study  of  the  writings  of  the  Lutheran 
Reformers.  Those  given  to  reading  German  books  at 
Oxford  and  Cambridge  were  called  Lutherans. 

Tyndale's  New  Testament,  which  is  substantially  our 
present  authorized  version,  is  largely  dependent  upon 
Luther's  translation.  Its  first  edition  was  published 
in  Germany  by  Hans  Luft,  Luther's  printer.  His  Pen- 
tateuch is  even  more  dependent.  The  introductions 
and  notes  are  nearly  all  literal  translations  of  Luther. 

Coverdale's  Bible,  where  it  does  not  appropriate 
Tyndale's  is  largely  a  translation  of  Leo.  Juda's  Zurich 
version,  which  again  is  a  revision  of  Luther.  Rogers, 
the  translator  of  Matthew's  Bible,  was  for  eleven  years 
a  Lutheran  pastor.  Conferences  between  the  Eng- 
lish theologians  and  the  Lutherans  were  frequent 
and  protracted,  and  during  the  reigns  of  Henry  VIII. 
and  Edward  VI.  the  Germans  were  pressed  by  letters 
and  by  legations  to  come  to  the  assistance  of  the  Eng- 
lish in  reforming  the  church.  Melancthon,  in  recog- 
nition of  his  incalculable  service  to  Lutheranism,  Was 
appointed  Professor  of  Divinity  in  Cambridge  Univer- 
sity. He  felt  constrained  to  decline,  but  Bucer  and 
others  accepted  similar  positions  of  influence,  and  took 
a  prominent  part  in  preparing  the  formulas  which  em- 
body the  faith  and  worship  of  the  Anglican  Church. 
Lutheran  principles  and  tendencies  had  from  the  first 


co8  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

predominated  among  the  English  and  when  they  pro- 
ceeded to  a  doctrinal  reformation,  the  composition  of 
a  national  creed,  their  XXXIX  Articles,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Archbishop  Lawrence  "were  borrowed  from  a 
Lutheran  creed."  "In  some  instances,"  adds  this  great 
Episcopal  authority,  "it  amounts  to  a  direct  transcript 
of  whole  passages  and  entire  extracts,  without  the 
slightest  omission  or  unimportant  variation."  Speak- 
ing of  the  X  Articles  which  appeared  after  the  nego- 
tiations in  London,  1538,  between  Myconius  and  the 
English  Bishops,  the  same  author  says:  "In  the  whole 
of  these  articles  the  ideas  and  lanofuao-e  of  the  Lu- 
theran  divines  have  been  closely  followed.  Many  of 
the  forty-two  articles  (afterwards  reduced  to  thirty- 
nine)  owe  their  origin  to  the  same  source,  and  even 
those  which  cannot  be  traced  with  certainty  exhibit  a 
correspondence  with  the  general  opinions  of  the  Ger- 
man divines." 

And  aeain :  "Our  Reformers  *  *  *  chose  to 
give  reputation  to  their  opinions  and  stability  to  their 
system  by  adopting  *  *  *  Lutheran  sentiments 
and  expressing  themselves  in  Lutheran  language," 
"purely  Lutheran,"  "  couched  in  the  very  expressions 
of  the  Lutheran  creed."  Of  Cranmer  he  says  :  "  From 
the  Lutherans  he  had  learned  almost  everything, 
which  he  deemed  ereat  and  crood  in  reformation." 

Bishop  Bull  says  :  "the  meaning  of  our  articles  can 
scarcely  be  perceived"  by  any  one  who  is  ignorant  of 
their  source.  And  Bishop  Whittingham  :  "the  Augs- 
burg Confession  is  the  source  of  the  XXXIX  Articles, 
their  prototype  in  form,  their  model  in  doctrine,  and 
the  very  foundation  of  many  of  their  expressions." 


Obligations  of  other  Communions. 


509 


The  origin  of  the  "Book  of  Common  Prayer"  is  like- 
wise to  be  credited  to  Lutheran  agencies.  The  Luther- 
ans had  revised,  purified  and  translated  the  services  of 
the  ancient  Church,  and  the  Lutheran  revision  had  been 
issued  in  many  editions  before  the  revision  of  the  old 
service  was  undertaken  across  the  channel.  And  when 
the  First  Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI.  was  brought 
out,  it  presented  very  few  divergences   from   the  Lu- 


HAGERSIOWN   FEMALE   SEMINARY,    HAGERSTOWN,    MD. 

theran  service.  "The  offices  of  our  Church,"  says 
Archbishop  Lawrence  again,  "were  completely  re- 
formed after  the  temperate  system  of  Luther."  The 
successive  stages  of  this  are  easily  traced.  The  Mis- 
sals in  use  in  England,  from  which  the  English  revis- 
ion  and  translation  were  made,  agreed  very  closely 
with  those  used  in  Germany,  from  which  the  Lutheran 
Liturgies  were  prepared.  With  the  latter  Cranmer, 
by  his  sojourn  in  Germany  in  1533,  had  grown   quite 


510  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

familiar,  and  especially  with  the  Order  of  Branden- 
burg-N  urn  berg,  having  married  the  niece  of  Osiander, 
who  with  Brentz  prepared  that  Order.  Melancthon 
and  Bucer  drew  up  subsequently.  1543,  a  service  for 
the  Archbishopric  of  Cologne,  which  was  in  great 
degree  conformed  to  that  of  Niirnberg,  and  "from 
this  work  "  says  Lawrence:  "All  our  offices  bear  evi- 
dent marks  of  having  been  partly  taken.  *  *  In 
our  Baptismal  Service,  the  resemblance  between  the 
two  productions  is  particularly  striking."  Thus,  as 
Hardwick  admits,  though  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  has  been  mainly  derived  from  the  ancient  and 
Mediaeval  Liturgies  it  has  been  "  in  no  inconsiderable 
degree  through  the  medium  of  a  Lutheran  Compi- 
lation." 

The  first  Anglican  Catechism  was  a  literal  transla- 
tion by  Cranmer  in  1548,  of  the  Kinder-Predigten  of 
the  Brandenburg-Niirnberg  Kirchen-Ordnung,  which 
Justus  Jonas  had  translated  into  Latin.  And  what  is 
known  as  the  Catechism  of  the  Church  of  England  was 
prepared  from  Brentz's  with  suggestions  from  Cran- 
mer's  Nurnberg  Catechism. 

The  great  Methodist  Church  is  commonly  viewed 
as  an  offshoot  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  This  very 
fact  goes  to  reveal  its  indirect  dependence  upon  the 
Lutheran  Church.  But  since  the  XXV  articles  which 
embody  the  doctrines  of  that  body  are  in  language 
and  substance  almost  identical  with  the  XXXIX  of 
the  Church  of  England,  they  are  readily  traced  to 
their  original  source.  "1  hey  are  only  remoter  issues 
from  the  same  Lutheran  fountain."  But  Methodism 
has  a  more  direct   indebtedness    to   Lutheranism.      It 


Oblig~atio7is  of  other   Communions.  511 

is  beholden  to  the  Lutheran  Church  for  the  spiritual 
birth  of  its  founder.  Sailing  to  Georgia  in  1535  on  a 
vessel  which  carried  a  number  of  Salzburgers,  who  in 
the  fierceness  of  the  storm  and  the  extremity  of  human 
distress  were  kept  in  perfect  peace,  Wesley  realized 
that  his  religion  was  destitute  of  the  calm,  confiding, 
and  joyous  spirit  which  made  these  Lutherans  sing 
praises  to  God,  when  every  other  heart  ''was  quaking 
and  some  were  almost  dead  with  terror."  Wesley 
had  been  accustomed  to  legalistic  bondage  and  Puri- 
tan  austerities.  He  had  sought  salvation  by  "  the  works 
of  the  law,"  but  strange  feelings  were  aroused  in  his 
heart,  when  he  found  a  company  of  men,  women  and 
children  who  knew  no  fear.  It  was  a  revelation  to 
him  of  the  import  and  power  of  the  Gospel.  Even 
then  he  did  not  attain  the  personal  experience  of  the 
heavenly  gift,  but  when  he  returned  to  London  and 
listened  there  in  a  Moravian  meeting  to  the  reading 
of  Luther's  Preface  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  he 
passed  suddenly  from  darkness  into  light.  "I  felt" 
he  wrote  "  my  heart  strangely  warmed,  I  felt  I  did 
trust  in  Christ  alone  for  salvation." 

The  Presbyterian  and  other  Calvinistic  bodies  "have 
always  looked  upon  Luther  and  the  Lutherans  as  the 
authors  of  their  Reformation."  Bossuet  says:  "All 
the  Calvinists,  Germans.  English,  Hungarians,  Poles, 
Dutch  and  all  others,  in  general,  who  assembled  at 
Frankfort,  through  the  influence  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
all  these  having  acknowledged  those  of  the  Confes- 
sion of  Augsburg,  namely,  the  Lutherans,  as  the  first 
who  gave  a  new  birth  to  the  Church,  acknowledge  also 
the  Confession  of  Augsburg  as  common   to  the  whole 


512  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

party."  And  Turretin,  speaking  of  the  concurrence  of 
the  Reformed  Calvinists  with  the  Lutherans,  says  it  is 
evident  "from  the  Augsburg  Confession  alone,  which 
both  parties  admit,  and  to  which  both  desire  to  be  re- 
garded as  adherents." 

The  German  Reformed  Church  orew  out  of  the 
Melancthonian  development  in  South  Germany,  where 
Frederick  III.,  appealing  to  Melancthon  and  the  al- 
tered Auesbura:  Confession  in  defense  of  his  Lutheran 
orthodoxy,  charged  two  men  Ursinus  and  Olevianus, 
the  former  an  adherent  of  Melancthon,  to  draw  up 
what  is  known  as  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  which  is 
recognized  in  Germany  and  in  this  country  as  the 
doctrinal  standard  of  that  communion.  The  Mora- 
vians, a  name  made  glorious  by  devoted  and  heroic 
missionary  zeal,  hold  to  the  Augsburg  Confession  as 
their  only  symbol  of  doctrine. 

Rightly  and  truly,  therefore,  the  great  Protestant 
communions  are  bound  to  look  up:m  the  Lutheran 
Church  as  the  mother  of  them  all.  And  this  histor- 
ical and  vital  relation  has  not  been  sundered  though 
it  is  often  ignored.  The  biblical  and  theological  treas- 
ures  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  though  recoined  in  the 
transition,  form  the  richest  element  of  the  religious 
literature  of  Protestantism.  And  the  distinguished 
teachers  of  the  great  theological  seminaries  through- 
out this  land  have  almost  without  exception,  sat  at  the 
feet  of  the  learned  Lutheran  Professors  in  the  Ger- 
man Universities.  "Evangelical  Christendom  owes 
more  to  the  Lutherans,  for  everything  pure,  blessed 
and  great  in  its  religion,  than  to  any  other  class  of 
men  since  the  Apostles  fell  asleep." 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

DISTINGUISHING    DOCTRINES    AND    FEATURES    OF    THE 
EVANGELICAL    LUTHERAN    CHURCH. 

HOW  other  churches  have  drawn  from  the  Lu- 
theran much  of  what  is  best  in  their  systems  is 
in  part  exhibited  in  the  foregoing  chapter.  In 
their  departure  from  her  they  have,  however,  not  car- 
ried with  them  every  important  element  of  the  parent 
church.  The  life  in  the  trunk  has  not  passed  in  all 
its  richness  into  the  branches.  Or  it  has  been  so 
modified  as  to  show  in  the  branches  a  different  and 
distinctive  form.  It  would  be  an  easy  task  to  note 
these  variations  which  the  branches  respectively  have 
developed;  nevertheless.it  is  in  accordance  with  the 
logic  of  history  to  speak  of  the  doctrines  and  features 
which  distinguish  the  Lutheran  Church.  They  may 
be  summarized  under  the  one  idea  of  comprehensive- 
ness. The  Lutheran  system  is  characterized  by  a 
breadth,  a  fullness,  an  inclusiveness  known  to  no  other. 
She  has  much  that  other  communions  do  not  have. 
Their  differentiation  is  due  to  their  leaving  or  losing, 
denying  or  abridging  some  of  her  excellences.  They 
are  poorer,  narrower,  incomplete.  They  represent 
avowedly  or  logically,  a  curtailment  of  the  riches  of 
grace,  a  limitation  of  its  benefits,  a  lowering  of  its  effi- 
cacy. The  Lutheran  Church  accepts  and  holds  the 
whole  truth  of  the  Scriptures,  with  its  normal  historic 
development.  In  and  with  this  truth,  she  knows,  is  the 
Holy  Spirit,  so   that  wherever  presented,  in  Word  or 

513 


514  The  Lutherans  in  Amcrcia. 

Sacrament,  it  brings  salvation  to  every  one  who  does 
not  make  it  of  none  effect  through  unbelief.  As  she 
does  not  sever  the  Spirit  from  the  Word,  neither  does 
she  take  away  aught  from  the  consensus  of  the  Church, 
from  the  Person  of  Christ,  the  mercy  of  God,  the  offer 
of  salvation,  or  the  content  of  the  Sacraments.  Her 
doctrines  are  in  every  way  richer,  her  distinctive  life 
fuller  and  more  complete,  all  embracing  and  many- 
sided  as  the  grace,  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Standing  midway  between  Rome  and  ultra-Protest- 
antism, maintaining  doctrines  that  separate  her  from 
both,  while  holding  to  the  ecumenical  creeds  which 
unite  her  to  both,  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church 
differs  fundamentally  from  the  Roman  Catholic: 
First,  In  receiving  the  Scriptures  of  the  old  and  New 
Testaments  as  sole  and  sufficient  authority  for  belief 
and  life;  Second,  In  ascribing  salvation  wholly  to 
the  mercy  of  God.  Then  she  differs  from  all  others 
who  in  any  way  limit  mercy  or  make  grace  contingent 
upon  aught  but  Word  and  Sacrament.  Such  is  the 
abounding  magnitude  of  divine  erace,  such  is  its  free- 
ness,  that  the  greatest  sinner  has  direct  access  to  its 
fountains.  It  is  of  no  moment  to  him  whether  he  who 
offers  him  absolution  received  Episcopal  or  Presby- 
terial  ordination,  or  no  ordination  at  all.  The  validity 
of  Baptism,  the  reality  of  Christ's  Presence,  the  power 
of  the  Gospel,  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  not  de- 
pendent on  any  ecclesiastical  legitimacy.  Salvation 
comes  through  the  means  of  grace  in  accordance  with 
the  promises,  which  are  not  bound  to  any  sacerdotal 
order,  line  of  succession  or  legalistic  conditions. 

And  such  is  the  measureless    amplitude    of   God's 


DistinguisJiing  Doctrines.  515 

mercy,  that  all  efforts  either  to  supplement  or  pur- 
chase, or  in  any  other  way  to  limit  or  condition  it,  are 
at  war  with  its  essential  character. 

Now,  according  to  the  tenets  of  one  denomination 
the  believer  cannot  feel  assured  of  his  salvation  unless 
grace  has  come  to  him  through  the  right  channel ;  the 
Gospel  and  the  Sacraments  in  which  it  is  visibly 
offered,  counting  for  nothing,  it  would  seem,  unless 
dispensed  by  one  whose  credentials  bear  the  stamp  of 
the  "Historic  Episcopate." 

According  to  those  of  some  others  all  the  promises 
and  provisions  of  grace  have  no  meaning  except  to 
such  as  by  a  secret  election  in  eternity  were  chosen 
to  become  its  subjects. 

In  another  the  salvation  of  the  soul  is  in  some  de- 
gree jeopardized  if  the  entire  body  was  not  immersed 
in  the  waters  of  Baptism. 

In  yet  another  quarter,  God's  Word,  the  Sacra- 
ments, the  atonement,  and  the  hidden  work  of  the 
Spirit,  avail  nought  until  you  can  evidence  your  con- 
version by  an  inward  consciousness,  supposed  to  be 
an  unfailing  proof  of  regeneration,  while  others  put 
such  stress  upon  personal  efforts  and  such  reliance 
upon  repentance  and  reformation  that  salvation  is 
made  largely  the  outcome  of  such  exercises. 

To  Lutherans  the  boundless  mercy  of  God  leaves 
need  for  nothing  more.  All  our  need  is  complete  in 
Christ.  Man  gives  nothing.  He  only  receives.  Faith  is 
receiving.  And  in  the  exercise  of  faith  pardon  is  real- 
ized and  a  new  life  is  begotten  in  him  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

This  curtailing  and  restricting  of  grace  meet  us  un- 
der various  forms.     It  is  seen  in  the  limited  atonement 


5 1 6  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

which  is  one  of  the  five  points  of  Calvinism,  whereas 
Lutheranism  holds  with  the  Scriptures  that  Christ  is 
"  the  propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world." 

It  is  seen  in  the  withholding  of  Baptism  from  little 
children,  whereas  Lutherans,  in  common  with  the  great 
historic  churches,  draw  no  line  and  raise  no  barriers  at 
this  gateway  of  the  Church,  but  bring  their  offspring 
to  the  font,  believing  that  being  offered  to  God  by  Bap- 
tism "they  are  received  into  God's  favor"  and  made 
subjects  of  the  quickening  Spirit.  The  Church  shuts 
out  no  one,  not  even  babes  from  its  blessings. 

It  appears  particularly  in  the  denial  of  sacramental 
grace,  which  separates  what  God  has  joined  together. 
The  Sacraments  are  reduced  to  empty  signs  and  me- 
morials, Baptism  being  merely  a  symbol  of  spiritual 
washing,  the  Supper  merely  a  remembrance  of  Christ's 
death.  Lutherans  while  acknowledging  them  as  signs 
and  memorials,  lay  chief  stress  upon  them  as  vehicles 
and  bearers  of  grace,  through  which  the  ascended  Lord 
comes  into  contact  with  the  individual  soul,  imparting 
to  it  in  Baptism  the  new  life,  nourishing  it  in  the  Sup- 
per by  the  Communion  of  his  body  and  blood. 

It  comes  out  very  strikingly  in  the  doctrine  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  where  almost  universally  other  Prot- 
estant Churches  teach  that  the  Holy  Eucharist  is  but 
a  picture,  or  memento  of  the  suffering  and  dying  Sav- 
ior, and  that  the  ordinance  contains  nothing  peculiar, 
nothing  mysterious. 

Lutherans  believe  that  in  the  Holy  Supper  there  are 
present  with  the  elements  and  received,  sacramentally 
and  supernaturally,  the  body  and  the  blood  o  f  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  in    accordance  with    his    institution,  and 


REV.    O.    ANDEHSEK. 


Distinguishing  Doctrines.  517 

the  words  of  the  Apostle:  "The  cup  of  blessing  which 
we  bless,  is  it  not  the  communion  of  the  blood  of  Christ? 
The  bread  which  we  break.isitnotthecommunionof  the 
body  of  Christ  ?"  Believers  receive  this  to  the  strength- 
ening- of  their  faith,  unbelievers  to  their  judgment. 

The  enemies  of  the  Lutheran  Church  have  sought  to 
fasten  on  her  the  reproach  of  consubstantiation,  al- 
though not  a  single  Lutheran  teacher  has  ever  advo- 
cated it,  and  the  Church's  defenders  have  with  one 
mind  and  voice  continually  denied  it. 

The  doctrine  of  Roman  Catholicism  is  that  by  the 
consecration  of  the  priest,  the  bread  and  wine  are 
changed  into  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ.  Nothing 
remains  of   the  elements.     This  is  transubstantiation- 

Consubstantiation  modifies  this  change  to  the  ex- 
tent of  the  difference  between  "  trans  "  and  "  con,"  so 
that  the  bread  and  wine  instead  of  wholly  disappear- 
ing, intermingle  with  the  body  and  blood  of  the 
Savior,  forming  one  substance.  The  Lutheran  doc- 
trine most  clearly  and  strenuously  denies  that  any 
change  occurs.  The  bread  remains  bread,  the  wine 
remains  wine,  but  in  the  reception  of  these  elements, 
there  is  a  partaking  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  a  com- 
munion of  His  body  and  His  blood. 

The  most  striking  example  of  the  dwarfing  and 
narrowing  process  of  other  theologies,  is  that  which 
pertains  to  the  Person  of  Christ.  The  Lutheran 
Church  embraces  Christ  as  the  God-man,  begotten  of 
the  Father  from  all  eternity  and  born  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  the  two  natures  inseparably  and  forever  united 
in  one  person,  the  divine  and  the  human  attributes 
sharing  in  every  act  and  work  so   that  "every  act  of 


5 1 8  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

the  Son  of  God  is  also  an  act  of  the  Son  of  Man  and 
every  word  of  the  Son  of  Man  is  also  a  word  of  the 
Son  of  God." 

Others  present  a  Christ  divided,  a  Christ  divested 
of  one  or  the  other  of  his  natures.  When  he  is  born, 
he  is  but  a  human  child.  When  he  dies  upon  the 
cross  atoning  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  he  suffers  only 
as  a  man,  the  descent  into  Hell  is  only  that  of  a  human 
soul.  When  he  gives  himself  in  the  mystery  of  the 
Holy  Supper,  when  he  is  present  "where  two  or  three 
are  gathered  in  his  name  "  he  is  only  divine,  his  human 
nature  which  unites  him  to  us  and  in  him  unites  hu- 
manity to  God,  being  confined  to  heaven.  Lutherans 
always  comprehend  both  natures  in  the  one,  forever 
indissoluble,  Person. 

And  this  undivided  and  indivisible  Christ,  the  God- 
man,  is  the  center  of  the  whole  plan  of  salvation.  Oth- 
er systems  begin  with  the  Bible,  with  the  decrees  of 
God,  with  the  Church.  Lutheranism  begins  with 
Christ.  Its  theology  rests  on  this  immovable  center. 
It  is  not  unusual  to  designate  justification  by  faith 
as  the  central  doctrine  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  but 
this  is  simply  the  reverse  of  the  same  truth.  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  sole  objective  ground  of  redemption. 
Faith  is  the  subjective  appropriation  of  redemption. 
Christ  is  the  fixed  sun  from  which  light  and  life  stream 
to  the  world.  Faith  is  the  opening  of  the  eye  and  of 
the  heart  to  receive  the  light  and  the  life.  Justification 
is  realized  by  faith  resting  on  the  merits  of  Christ. 

Around  this  shining  center  everything  revolves. 
And  thus  Lutheran  theology  and  Church  life  honor 
and  exalt  and  magnify  Jesus  Christ  beyond  any  other 


Distinguishing  Doctrines.  519 

system.  Romanism  obscures  him  behind  the  Virgin. 
Calvinism  makes  him  an  agent  in  the  saving  of  the 
elect.  Anglicanism  has  sought  to  confine  his  a-race  to 
narrow  channels.  Methodism  often  dims  his  crown 
by  its  conjunction  of  experiences  and  works  with  grace- 
Lutheranism  makes  him  ail  in  all. 

In  harmony  with  its  distinguishing  doctrines  the 
Lutheran  Church  has  also  its  characteristic  worship. 
The  church  of  the  people,  its  worship  is  not  that  of 
the  priests,  or  of  the  preacher,  it  is  the  people's  wor- 
ship, and  they  are  therefore  provided  with  forms  to 
kindle,  to  exercise  and  to  sustain  the  spirit  of  worship. 
The  Reformers  proceeded  with  the  liturgy  just  as  they 
did  with  the  teaching  of  the  Church.  They  purged 
out  corruption  and  error  from  the  forms  of  public  de- 
votion, restored  them  to  a  scriptural  standard  and  put 
them  into  the  vernacular  tongue.  Every  Lutheran 
country  and  city  adopted  its  liturgy  during  the  six- 
teenth century,  and  all  these  agenda  had  with  immate- 
rial differences  the  same  service,  except  in  South  Ger- 
many, where  the  influence  of  Carlstadt  made  itself  felt 
in  the  cultus. 

A  Lutheran  Church  without  a  liturgy  was  unknown  be- 
fore Rationalism  becameenthroned  in  Germany.  Then, 
as  the  vital  truths  of  Christianity  were  abandoned  by 
the  pulpit,  they  were  also  removed  from  the  people's 
hymn-book  and  cast  out  from  their  forms  of  worship, 
and  the  liturgies,  in  many  cases,  cast  out  altogether. 

Many  of  the  English  congregations  in  this  country, 
influenced  doubtless  by  the  dominant  churches  around 
them,  dispensed  for  some  time  with  prescribed  forms, 
yet  it  is  significant   of  the  spirit  of  the  Church  that 


C20  1  he  Lutherans  in  America. 

the  first  measure  at  the  first  convention  of  the  first 
Synod  was  the  adoption  of  a  liturgy  "with  a  view  of 
introducing  into  our  congregations  the  same  ceremo- 
nies, forms  and  words." 

At  an  early  period  of  its  history  the  General  Synod 
made  provision  for  an  English  Liturgy.  To  provide  a 
satisfactory  English  Service  for  the  Lutheran  Church 
proved,  however,  under  the  peculiar  circumstances,  no 
easy  task,  and  for  half  a  century  successive  committees 
wrestled  with  the  necessary  but  difficult  undertaking. 

In  1883  the  three  General  Bodies  representing  the 
Eno-lish-speaking  Lutherans  entered  into  an  agree- 
ment to  prepare  a  common  service  on  the  basis  of 
"the  common  consent  of  the  pure  Lutheran  Liturgies 
of  the  sixteenth  century,"  and  assigned  this  work  to  a 
joint-committee  whose  unanimous  report  was  adopted 
by  the  three  Bodies  without  a  dissenting  voice.  The 
General  Synod,  commonly  regarded  as  but  moderately 
liturgical,  heartily  and  solemnly  gave  its  unanimous 
approval  to  this  undertaking  at  three  consecutive 
sessions,  at  Springfield  instructing  the  Committee  to 
follow  "the  well-defined  basis  of  the  pure  Lutheran 
Liturgies  of  the  sixteenth  century,"  at  Harrisburg  ac- 
cepting the  unanimous  conclusion  of  the  Committee 
when  it  presented  "  the  order  of  Service  of  the  Lu- 
theran Church,"  and  at  Omaha  ordering  it  to  be  pub- 
lished "in  all  future  editions  of  the  Book  of  Worship 
and  the  Book  of  Worship  with  tunes." 

A  feature  that  has  never  been  wanting  to  the  Lu- 
theran Church  is  the  observance  of  the  great  festivals 
of  the  Christian  Year,  Christmas,  Good  Friday,  Easter, 
Ascension    and    Whitsunday.       Though    maintained 


Distinguishing  Doctrines.  521 

also  by  a  few  others,  they  are  peculiarly  precious  to 
the  Lutheran  Church,  since  in  consonance  with  her 
system  of  doctrine  they  exalt  Christ.  They  magnify 
his  incarnation,  his  atoning  death,  his  triumphant 
resurrection,  his  glorious  return  to  the  Father,  his  out- 
pouring of  the  Holy  Ghost.  These  events  are  the  im- 
movable foundations  of  Christianity. 

Doctrine  and  worship  exert  a  potent  influence  up- 
on thought  and  character,  and  peculiar  types  of  doc- 
trine and  worship  will  have  their  counterparts  in  types 
of  piety,  and  peculiarities  of  spiritual  life.  The  char- 
acteristics of  the  fruit  are  the  outcome  of  the  root. 

With  the  cardinal  position  of  justification  by  faith  in 
the  Lutheran  system,  there  is  absolute  freedom  from 
the  shackles  of  the  law.  1 1  was  the  work  of  the  Luther- 
ans to  restore  and  enthrone  Pauline  theology,  and  un- 
der its  sway  believers  come  to  realize  their  unqualified 
freedom  from  every  yoke  and  burden.  Knowing  by 
the  Scriptures  that  they  are  "  the  children  of  God  by 
faith  in  Christ  Jesus,"  they  behold  in  God  not  a  despot 
but  a  dear  Father.  We  are  under  grace,  not  under  the 
law,  children,  not  servants,  obeying  from  the  heart  and 
not  by  constraint  of  external  precepts.  The  obedi- 
ence of  a  child  is  nobler  than  that  of  a  servant.  A 
spontaneous  service  is  infinitely  better  than  an  en- 
forced one.  The  law  within  the  heart  working  out- 
wardly,  impelling  to  cheerful,  holy  obedience,  develops 
a  Christian  character  which  can  never  be  reached  by 
any  law  of  outward  observances.  And  it  is  a  surer 
safeguard  against  both  antinomianism  and  spiritual 
sloth.  Having  peace  with  God  through  faith  and  hav- 
ing the  indwelling  Spirit,  the  innermost  promptings  of 


522  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

the  heart  will  ever  move  men  to  ask  "what  can  we 
render  unto  the  Lord  for  all  his  benefits  to  us." 

A  childlike  faith,  spiritual  freedom,  a  calm,  cheerful, 
sunny  frame,  such  as  Wesley  beheld  in  the  storm- 
tossed  Salzburgers,  are  wont  to  mark  those  who  have 
been  reared  on  the  Lutheran  faith  and  have  grown  up 
in  its  healthful  atmosphere.  They  strive  after  holiness 
in  temper  and  life  "  not  for  the  sake  o  f  winning  Heaven, 
or  escaping  Hell,"  but  from  love  to  him  who  first  loved 
us.  Their  chief  concern  is  to  have  continual  fellow- 
ship with  God,  the  strength  of  their  heart  and  their 
portion  forever. 

The  Lutheran  Church  is  of  course,  like  the  other 
historic  communions,  somewhat  affected  by  environ- 
ment. She  has  not  always  had  a  free,  normal,  un- 
trammelled development.  The  oak  does  not  attain  the 
same  grandeur  and  symmetry  in  every  climate  or  in 
every  variety  of  soil.  So  the  Lutheran  body,  "  the 
purest  and  sublimest  of  churches,"  has  sometimes 
been  dwarfed  and  warped,  hindered  in  her  noble  prog- 
ress, deprived  of  her  true  glory.  Yet  none  who  know 
this  majestic  tree  of  life,  whose  leaves  have  been  the 
healing  of  untold  millions,  will  deny  that  under  favor- 
able circumstances  its  character  and  fruits  are  what 
they  are  here  represented. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


PRESENT    STRENGTH    OF    THE    EVANGELICAL    LUTHERAN 
CHURCH    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES    AND    EUROPE. 


THE  numerical  strength  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
this  country  reaches,  according  to  the  latest  sta- 
tistics  attainable  (1889),  a  total  of  4,514   minis- 
ters, 7,804  congregations,  1,099,708  communicants 
Of  these  there  are  embraced  in  the 


Synodical  Conference, 
General  Council,     . 
General  Synod, 
United  Synod, 
Independent  Synods, 
Disconnected  with  Synods, 


Congregations.  Communicants. 


I,8lO 
1,576 
1,364 

392 

2,562 

IOO 


362,000 

270,076 

I53>064 

33*625 

263,943 
17,000 


Ministers. 
1,221 

895 

997 

186 

i,i32 

&3 

No  proper  conception  can  be  had  of  the  strength 
which  these  numbers  indicate  except  by  comparison. 
Measured  by  the  past  they  reveal  the  mighty  hand  of 
God  in  the  planting  and  progress  of  the  Church  in 
America.  The  vast  increase  is  of  God.  By  his  grace 
feeble  beginnings  have  developed  into  a  powerful 
communion. 

Not  many  years  ago  the  Lutheran  Church  was 
classified  "among  the  smaller  Presbyterian  bodies." 
She  was  virtually  unknown  and  unrecognized,  scarcely 
mentioned  in  statistical  tables.  Since  then  she  has 
overtaken  one  after  the  other  of  the  tribes  until  she  is 
acknowledged  among  the  largest  and  most  influential 
denominations  of  the  land. 

523 


524 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


An   approximate  estimate  of  the  Church's   numbers 
for  the  last  century  gives  the  following: 


Year. 

Ministers. 

Congregations. 

Communicants. 

1780, 

70 

300 

1S14, 

85 

380 

40,000 

1823, 

J75 

600 

45,000 

iS33> 

300 

680 

57,000 

1845, 

520 

1,030 

145,000 

1853, 

850 

1,75° 

200,000 

1S63, 

i>433 

2,677 

285,217 

1868, 

1,748 

3,111 

351,860 

1873, 

2,309 

4,n5 

485,080 

1878, 

2,910 

5^36 

65^529 

1S83, 

3,429 

6,130 

785,987 

1SS5, 

3.720 

7^37 

893,202 

Her    comparative     rank    among    the       evangelical 
Churches   of  this   country   appears  according  to  the 

latest  statistics  : 


The  Methodists  Number 

The  Baptists  " 

The  Presbyterians    " 

The  Lutherans  " 

The  Congregationalists  Number 

The  Episcopalians  " 

The  Reformed 


4,747>I3° 
3,974,589 
1,259,234 
1,099,708 

475,608 

459,642 
277,632 


Figures  yield,  however,  an  unsatisfactory  and  inade- 
quate exhibit  of  a  church's  strength.  Numbers  are  no 
proper  expression  of  moral  forces.  Mathematics  do 
not  apply  to  what  is  spiritual.  In  that  sphere  one 
and  one  may  be  more  than  two  and  two.  Statistics 
may  include  clergy,  communicants  and  congregations 
that  weaken  rather  than  strengthen  a  church.  They 
may  be  minus  quantities.     One  earnest  soul  may  count 


Prese?it  Strength.  525 

for  more  than  multitudes  who  have  the  form  but  not 
the  power  of  godliness. 

A  Lutheran  congregation  may  be  equal  to  a  Meth- 
odist one,  or  to  a  Presbyterian,  or  to  an  Episcopalian. 
It  may  also,  though  numerically  and  externally  weaker, 
represent  more  than  either  or  many  of  these.  Pri- 
marily the  question  is  how  much  Christian  truth  does 
it  represent?  For  what  compass  of  the  Gospel  does 
it  stand  ?  What  is  the  degree  of  its  spiritual  endow- 
ment?    To  what  extent  is  it  the  body  of  Christ? 

Surely  in  this  the  strength  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
is  nowhere  surpassed,  is  equalled  by  none.  She  holds 
and  preaches  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  with  a  fullness 
and  emphasis  heard  nowhere  else.  Salvation  by  faith 
alone,  Christ  the  center  of  all  her  teaching,  Christ  ex- 
alted in  her  pulpit,  her  festivals  and  her  liturgies,  herein 
lies  the  essential  strength  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  "If 
the  Lutheran  Church  does  not  compass  the  truth  and 
salvation  of  God,  they  are  not  to  be  found  on  earth." 
And,  what  is  of  preeminent  value,  her  faith  is  clearly 
defined  and  fully  set  forth  in  her  Symbols,  which  are 
becoming  more  and  more  the  study  of  her  ministers, 
and  adhered  to  with  a  firmness  that  has  no  parallel  in 
any  other  Church. 

A  transcendent  feature  of  her  strength  is  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  young.  She  is  the  only  Protestant  com- 
munion that  has  retained  the  Catechism  as  an  indis- 
pensable feature  of  religious  training,  as  she  is  also 
the  only  one  that  to  any  extent  retains  in  her  hands 
general  education.  In  Sunday-school  work  the  Eng- 
lish congregations  are  surpassed  by  none,  and  in  many 
localities  their  superior  efficiency  is  unchallenged. 


526 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


With  four  thousand  pastors  annually  catechising 
the  young,  with  some  300,000  children  taught  in  par- 
ish schools,  with  more  than  half  a  million  reared  in  well- 
conducted  Sunday-schools,  the  Lutheran  Church  has 
an  incalculable  element  of  power  that  wins  admira- 
tion from  all  who  are  acquainted  with  her. 

Faithfully  nurturing  and  guarding  her  own,  she 
shows,  besides,  an  aggressiveness,  a  missionary  zeal 
and  a  general  prevalence  and  growth  of  liberality,  that 
indicate  an  immeasurable  capacity  for  extension,  while 
her  ministry  along  with  their  fidelity  in  preaching  ob- 


GASTON  COLLEGE,  DALLAS,  N.  C 

jective  truth,  have  no  superiors  in  learning,  in  self-sac- 
rifice and  consecration. 

Features  like  these  rather  than  statistical  tables 
show  the  essential  and  effective  strength  of  a  church. 
Not  the  muster  roll  of  an  army,  but  its  fighting  capac- 
ity, its  morale,  and  above  all,  the  justice  of  its  cause 
represent  its  real  power. 

An  approximate  measurement  of  the  strength  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  may  also  be  obtained  from  the  fol- 
lowing  exhibit   of   her   principal   educational    institu- 


Present  Strength. 


527 


tions,  the  most  powerful  human   agencies  for  promot- 
ing her  efficiency  and  growth  : 


THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARIES. 


Name.  Opened. 

Hartwick,     .         .  .         .         .1816, 

Seminary  of  General  Synod,          .  1826, 

Theolog.  Dept.  of  Capital  University,  1830, 

Southern,     .....  1830, 

Theolog.  Dept.  of  Wittenberg  Col.,  1845, 

Concordia,           ....  1846, 

Wartburg,              ....  1854, 

Theolog.  Dept.,  Miss'ry  Institute,  1858, 

Philadelphia,         ....  1864, 

Swedish  Augustana,       .         .         .  1864, 

Augsburg  Augustana,     .         .         .  1869, 

Practical  Concordia,      .         .         .  1873, 

Norwegian-Danish  Augustana,         .  1874, 

Wisconsin  Synod's,         .         .          .  1878, 

Hauge's  Red  Wing,       .         .         .  1879, 

German  of  General  Synod,     .         .  1881, 

Minnesota  Synod's,        .         .         .  1884, 

Michigan  Synod's,          .         .         .  1885, 

Norwegian,  .....  1886, 
Two  Danish,          .... 


Location.  Profs.  Studs. 

Hartwick  Sem.,         3        15 
Gettysburg,  Pa., 
Columbus,  Ohio, 
Newberry,  S.  C, 
Springfield,  O., 
St.  Louis,  Mo., 
Dubuque,  la., 
Selins  Grove,  Pa., 
Philadelphia,  Pa., 
Rock  Island,  111., 
Minneapolis,Minn.  3 
Springfield,  111.,       3 
Beloit,  Iowa,  2 

Milwaukee,  Wis.  3 
Red  Wing,  Minn.,  2 
Chicago,  111.,  3 

New  Ulm,  Minn.,  2 
Saginaw,  Mich.,      3 
Northfield,  Minn.,  2 
4 


53 
30 
4 
18 
109 
64 

*3 

65 
48 

34 
194 

9 
33 
36 

'9 
12 
18 
23 
21 


Three  Norwegian  Seminaries  are  about  to  consoli- 
date at  Minneapolis  and  will  open  with  five  professors. 


Name. 

Pennsylvania  College, 
Wittenberg  College, 
Concordia  College, 
Capital  University, 
Roanoke  College,  . 
Newberry  College,  . 
North  Carolina  College, 


COLLEGES. 

Founded.             Locality. 

Profs. 

Studs. 

1832,  Gettysburg,  Pa., 

M 

205 

1845,  Springfield,  0., 

18 

250 

1849,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind., 

7 

160 

1850,  Columbus,  0., 

8 

148 

1853,  Salem,  Va., 

11 

140 

.     1858,  Newberry,  S.  C, 

8 

67 

1858,  Mt.  Pleasant,  N.  C,      5         57 


5^3 


The  Lutherans  in  America. 


Name, 

Founded 

Location. 

Profs. 

Studs. 

Augustana  College, 

i860, 

Rock  Island,  111., 

30 

194 

Luther  College, 

l86l, 

Decorah,  la., 

9 

*3* 

Northwestern  University, 

1865, 

Watertown,  Wis., 

7 

161 

Muhlenberg  College, 

1S67, 

Allentown,  Pa., 

1 1 

151 

Wartburg  College,  . 

1S68, 

Waverly,  la. 

6 

65 

Augsburg  College,  . 

1869, 

Minneapolis,  Minn., 

5 

90 

Carthage  College,    . 

1870, 

Carthage,  111., 

4 

87 

Thiel  College, 

1870, 

Greenville,  Pa., 

10 

in 

Gustavus  Adolph.  College, 

.       1876, 

St.  Peter,  Minn., 

J9 

272 

Bethany  Col.  and  Nor.  Ins., 

1SS1, 

Lindsborg,  Kan., 

13 

251 

Concordia  College, 

1882, 

Conover,  N.  C, 

7 

162 

Wagner  Memorial  College, 

IS85, 

Rochester,  N.  Y., 

5 

51 

Midland  College, 

1887, 

Atchinson,  Kan., 

5 

70 

Hartwick  Seminary  with  7  Professors  and  95  students  and  the  Mis- 
sionary Institute, with  8  Professors  and  90  students,  at  Selins  Grove, 
Penn.,  are  institutions  of  a  higher  grade,  preparing  men  for  advanced 
college  classes. 

There  are  numerous  flourishing  Female  Seminaries 
which,  by  the  higher  education  of  women,  contribute 
an  incalculable  momentum  to  the  advance  and  influ- 
ence of  the  Church. 

To  the  educational  institutions  are  yet  to  be  added 
the  flourishing  Publishing  Houses,  which  issue  a  great 
mass  of  literature  in  some  half  dozen  languages.  The 
total  number  of  periodicals  is  at  least  131.  Of  these 
42  are  English,  53  German,  24  Norwegian  or  Danish, 
9  Swedish,  2   Icelandic,  and  1   Finnish. 

In  connection  with  the  exhibit  of  the  strength  of 
the  Lutheran  Church  in  this  country,  her  numbers  in 
Europe  are  presented  below.  The  facts  that  she  pos- 
sesses more  territory  than  any  other  two  of  the  great 
Protestant  families,  and  embraces  a  population  al- 
most as    laro-e  as  all  other    Evangelical    bodies  com- 


Present  Strength. 


529 


bined,  make  a   moral    addition    to    her   strength    here 
that  is  of  o-reat  significance. 

In  this  country  the  statistics  represent  only  actual 
communicants.  In  Europe  they  indicate  generally  the 
aggregate  population  comprised  within  the  Lutheran 
State  Churches. 


THE    LUTHERANS    NUMBER    AS    FOLLOWS: 

Denmark,  Norway  and  Sweden,  .....  8,508,000 
German  Empire,  omitting  the  Reformed  in  the  Prussian 

Union,        .........  24,483,000 

Austro- Hungary,    ........  1,550,000 

Russia,           .........  5,060,000 

France,  England,  Holland,  &c,        .....  225,000 

Add  those  in  Africa,  Asia  and  Australia,  ....  298,000 

"  "      America,  including  Brazil,  West  Indies,  and 

Greenland           ........  1,152,000 

Total  in  the  world,      ....  41,276,000 

These  are  comprised   in   36,000  congregations,  and 
ministered  to  by  more  than  25,000  clergy. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH. 

IT  has  been  no  easy  task  to  sketch  the  past  and 
present  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America.  It 
seems  presumptuous  to  attempt  the  delineation  of 
her  future.  Yet  coming  events  cast  their  shadows  be- 
fore. The  humblest  sower  forms  an  idea  of  what 
the  harvest  will  be.  Growth  depends  indeed  largely 
on  conditions,  yet  the  sapling  is  the  promise  of  a 
mighty  oak. 

The  church  is  a  tree  of  life,  and  it  is  the  nature  of 
spiritual  as  of  physical  life  to  grow,  to  develop  in 
strength  and  dimensions.  With  the  quick  and  quick- 
ening Word  coursing  through  her  veins,  the  inherent 
vitality  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  tested  and  strength- 
ened as  it  has  been  by  storms  of  adversity,  is  itself  the 
pledge  of  boundless  increase. 

The  conspicuous  interpositions  of  Providence  for 
her  preservation  and  progress  in  this  western  world, 
vouch  furthermore  for  the  future  favor  of  the  Most 
High.  It  was  God  that  brought  her  across  the  deep, 
that  laid  her  foundations  in  this  land,  that  protected 
her  in  crises  of  supreme  peril.  The  waters  have  roared 
around  her  until  the  mountains  shook  with  the  swell- 
ing- thereof,  but  God  has  been  at  once  her  refuge  and 
her  strength,  her  "feste  Burg,"  so  that  in  the  face  of 
overwhelming  odds  she  has  advanced  to  marvellous 
prosperity.     Review  the    ordeals    through    which    the 

530 


The  Future  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  531 

Church  was  called  to  pass  for  many  years,  the  poverty 
and  the  wrongs  of  her  early  colonists,  the  ravages  of 
protracted  wars,  the  paralysis  of  rationalism,  the  dis- 
persion and  disorganization  of  her  material,  the  havoc 
of  proselyting  sects,  and  more  trying  than  all,  the 
strain  put  upon  her  by  the 'language  conflict,  and  then 
on  that  dark  background,  strive  to  behold  her  present 
extent  and  power,  and  the  heathen  even,  must  cry  out 
"the  Lord  hath  done  great  things  for  them,"  to  which 
we  exultantly  respond  "  the  Lord  hath  done  great 
things  for  us  ;  whereof  we  are  glad." 

It  is  a  miracle  that  the  Lutheran  Church  is  not  ex- 
tinct in  America.  What  shall  be  said  of  her  triumph- 
ant progress  in  the  face  of  successive  and  over- 
whelming adversities!  She  has  not  only  maintained 
her  existence  but  she  has  come  forth  from  her  ad- 
versities purer,  stronger,  more  united  and  more  active, 
her  roots  growing  deeper,  her  trunk  mightier  as  the 
storms  have  swayed  her  to  and  fro.  No  other  church 
has  labored  under  the  difficulties,  disadvantages  and 
struggles  to  which  the  Lutheran  has  been  subjected, 
and  yet  no  other  has  in  the  last  forty  years  shown 
such  a  ratio  of  progress.  In  some  large  districts 
she  has  gained  more  within  a  quarter  of  a  century 
than  all  the  other  evangelical  churches  combined. 

For  a  long  time  her  growth  had  been  slow,  much 
impeded  and  often  intermitted,  but  slowness,  too,  is  a 
virtue  in  some  cases,  and  great  things  in  nature, 
history  or  grace  are  never  sudden.  When  at  last 
it  became  rapid,  the  sure  warrant  of  its  reality  and 
soundness  was  the  fact  of  its  manifestation  in  every 
sphere.     There   has  been  vast  progress    not  only  in 


552  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

numbers,  but  in  Confessional  fidelity,  in  Churchly 
pfactice,  in  Church  love,  in  conviction  and  enthusiasm, 
in  efficient  organization,  in  education,  in  missionary 
activity,  in  benevolence.  The  advance  in  every  re- 
spect is  so  marvellous  that  many  can  hardly  believe 
it.  Think  of  the  Lutherans  fifty  years  ago:  "Pos- 
sessed of  a  language  mostly  foreign,  widely  scat- 
tered over  an  immense  territory,  destitute  of  facilities 
for  education  in  the  spirit  and  learning  of  our  Church, 
poorly  supplied  with  the  regular  ministrations  of  the 
Word  and  Sacraments,  often  distracted  with  strifes 
about  what  language  they  were  to  worship  in,  without 
a  literature  worthy  of  the  name, — lacking  in  efficient 
organization,  assailed  on  all  sides  by  the  ignorant  or 
wilful  misrepresentations  of  the  denominations  around 
them,  and  made  the  prey  of  proselyting  sects." 

Then  there  was  no  missionary  fund  and  not  a  single 
"missionary  preacher  in  all  the  land  wholly  given  up 
to  the  work."  Now  the  number  of  those  wholly  or  in 
part  doing  missionary  work  is  not  less  than  one 
thousand,  and  the  amounts  annually  expended  on 
this  cause  reach  hundreds  of  thousands,  while  the 
liberality  of  the  people  towards  the  cause  of  mis- 
sions and  education,  has  been  steadily  improving 
until  gifts  of  $5,000  to  $25,000  are  not  unusual,  and 
legacies  of  $50,000  to  $100,000  are  reported.  Then 
there  was  one  English  and  probably  a  German  period- 
ical, each  with  a  few  hundred  subscribers.  Now  there 
are  altogether  over  one  hundred  and  thirty  Church 
journals  bearing  light  to  one  million  of  readers. 
Humble  beginnings  of  theological  education  had  been 
started  in  a  few  centers.     Now  not  less  than  21    semi- 


The  Future  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  533 

naries,  with  69  professors  and  700  students  seek  to 
meet  the  growing  wants  of  the  Church.  Then  there 
was  a  single  college,  feeble  and  struesfling",  now  there 
are  twenty,  some  in  equipment  and  attendance  ranking 
with  the  better  colleges  of  the  country,  with  millions 
of  dollars  invested  in  property,  libraries  and  endow- 
ment, and  thousands  of  young  men  receiving  a  liberal 
education,  a  large  proportion  of  them,  about  i,500pre- 
paring  for  the  ministry. 

With  the  exception  of  the  writings  of  Dr.  S.  S. 
Schmucker,  there  was  a  generation  ago  hardly  any 
literature  in  the  English  tongue  setting  forth  the  his- 
tory, character  and  claims  of  the  Lutheran  Church; 
to-day,  though  much  is  yet  to  be  desired,  there  is  a 
a  number  of  solid  volumes  that  ofter  a  fair  exhibit 
of  her  distinguishing  excellences. 

The  time  was,  and  not  so  very  long  ago,  when  others 
did  not  know  the  Lutheran  Church,  when  in  fact  she 
hardly  knew  herself,  when  she  seemed  afraid  of  her 
true  self,  when  her  children  had  no  appreciation  of 
their  patrimonial  possessions,  when  her  champions 
were  always  on  the  defensive  and  some  were  fain  to 
apologize  for  their  ecclesiastical  connection.  At  pres- 
ent the  Lutheran  people  exult  in  their  birthright.  They 
have  become  alive  to  the  peculiar  glory  of  their  Church, 
conscious  of  her  strength  and  relative  position,  and 
cognisant  of  her  incomparable  opportunities.  Igno- 
rance of  the  Lutheran  Church  no  longer  airs  itself, 
but  blushes  at  its  exposure.  Where  once  the  tide 
bore  ministers  and  people  away  from  Lutheran  altars, 
it  is  now  bringing  in  not  a  few  from  other  altars. 
While   formerly   Lutherans   quoted    the  practices    of 


The  Future  of  the  Lutheran   Church.  535 

others  as  presumptively  correct,  it  is  not  uncommon 
now  to  see  Lutheran  usage  pointed  to  as  a  valid 
endorsement  of  what  is  desired.  The  immense  signifi- 
cance of  all  this  is  beyond  description.  It  forms  an 
inestimable  element  of  hope  in  the  future  of  Luther- 
anism,  and  this  hope  itself  is  a  force  of  measureless 
possibilities.  Once  all  was  discouragement.  Now  a 
prospect  opens  to  the  Lutheran  Church  such  as  no 
other  communion   commands. 

If  then  notwithstanding  trials  and  strugro-les  un- 
known  to  other  churches,  the  Lutheran  Church  has 
steadily  progressed,  doubling  her  numbers  on  an  aver- 
age every  thirteen  years,  if  with  the  most  limited  out- 
ward resources  and  equipments,  she  has  startled  the 
public  mind  by  the  prosperity  and  power  she  has 
attained,  what  may  she  not  be  expected  to  accomplish 
with  the  vantage  ground  she  now  holds,  a  situation 
full  of  inspiration  and  of  hope. 

Struggles  and  trials  will  doubtless  still  oppose  her 
progress.  Problems  remain  to  be  solved,  glaring 
weaknesses  and  disadvantages  are  yet  to  be  overcome, 
but  she  has  no  longer  to  contend  with  many  bf  the 
most  formidable  obstacles  that  once  blocked  her 
path.  And  her  discouragements  are  insignificant  com- 
pared with  those  of  some  other  bodies. 

One  vital  problem  pressing  upon  the  Church  is  her 
adjustment  to  the  demands  of  our  country  and  age. 
Another  is  the  fuller  occupation  of  the  large  cities 
with  English  congregations.  Happily  she  is  con- 
scious of  her  need  and  duty  in  these  things,  and  favor- 
able changes  are  here  also  apparent.  The  total  of 
Lutheran  Churches  in  many  of  the  principal  cities  is 


536  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

encouraging.  New  York  has  20,  Philadelphia  34,  Bal- 
timore 18,  Washington  11,  Pittsburg  18,  Omaha  10, 
Portland  8,  San  Francisco  8.  An  increasing  propor- 
tion of  these  is  English.  Sixteen  years  ago  Balti- 
more had  4  English  Churches.  Now  it  has  12. 
The  English  membership  was  then  995,  now  it  it 
nearly  4,500. 

Whatever  circumstances  may  work  to  the  future 
detriment  of  the  Church,  it  is  very  manifest  that  in 
many  respects  she  possesses  extraordinary  advan- 
tages. 

First. — Of  all  churches  she  holds  the  purest,  clear- 
est, most  definite  and  most  complete  system  of  scrip- 
tural doctrine.  She  is  firmly  grounded  on  her  Sym- 
bols, and  these  stand  immovable  amid  the  upheaval 
and  tumult  that  are  shaking  some  other  creeds.  While 
some  are  seeking  in  desperation  to  adjust  their  faith  to 
modern  thought  or  scientific  discovery,  the  Lutherans 
know  of  nothing  in  their  creed  that  has  become  unset- 
tled, nothing  that  has  to  be  given  up.  Not  the  faintest 
voice  is  heard  for  a  revision  of  her  standards.  "  Her 
confessional  position  and  consequent  church  life,"  says 
Dr.  Valentine,  "represent  the  best  and  truest  outflow 
of  genuine  Christianity."  From  a  church  that  holds 
the  truth  in  love  and  loyalty  the  Holy  Ghost  will 
never  depart. 

Second. — One  of  the  brightest  signs  of  her  future  is 
her  custom  of  inculcating  this  faith  in  her  children.  It 
is  not  an  idle  boast  that  by  her  catechisation  she  gives 
them  an  education  that  is  without  parallel.  And  who 
can  tell  the  full  import  of  such  indoctrination  in  this 
skeptical  age?     With   religious   instruction   banished 


The  Future  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  537 

from  our  public  schools,  with  infidelity  wantonly  taint- 
ing our  literature,  with  a  godless  press  read  at  every 
fireside,  with  unsanctified  science  aiming  its  shafts 
at  the  most  holy  truths,  with  rampant  sensualism  and 
worldliness,  it  may  well  be  feared  whether  the  multi- 
tude can  be  held  to  Christianity  unless  they  have  been 
rooted  in  it  and  grounded  in  it  in  childhood. 

Third. —  As  she  is  the  church  of  the  children,  so 
she  is  the  church  of  the  people.  It  is  no  discredit  to 
her  that  she  does  not  attract  the  devotees  of  fashion, 
or  that  she  fails  to  satisfy  some  who  prefer  social 
standing  to  spiritual  improvement,  but  wherever  a 
Lutheran  congregation  has  become  properly  estab- 
lished, her  teachings  and  her  usages  are  wont  to  com- 
mend themselves  to  the  thoughtful. 

Fourth. — Her  present  numerical  strength  is  a  pledge 
of  a  great  future.  Her  communicants  number  1,100,- 
000  souls.  The  children  in  her  homes  number  no  less. 
Including  these  more  than  2,000,000  of  a  baptized 
membership,  it  is  estimated  that  there  are  to-day  in 
the  United  States  7,000,000  people  who  properly  be- 
long to  the  Lutheran  household  of  faith,  who  look  to 
the  Lutheran  Church  for  whatever  spiritual  ministra- 
tions they  receive.  And  this  grand  total  is  steadily 
increasing  from  the  native  population  and  through 
the  multitudes  that  come  hither  annually  from  the 
Lutheran  lands  across  the  sea.  Nor  is  it  without 
meaning  for  the  future  that  although  the  Lutherans 
have  failed  to  occupy  fully  some  of  the  great  centers 
in  the  East,  they  have  spread  themselves  everywhere 
over  the  great  West.  Nearly  all  of  the  Scandinavians 
have   settled  west  of  Lake   Michigan,    and   two-thirds 


533 


The  Ltitherans  in  America. 


of  the  Germans  west  of  Buffalo.  In  a  number  of 
western  states  the  Lutheran  population  preponder- 
ates. The  uniform  story,  persistently  repeated  by 
the  representatives  of  other  bodies,  is  that  the  vast- 
ness  of  the  Lutheran  field  is  beyond  all  compari- 
son, that  multitudes  are  waiting  to  be  gathered  by 
her  shepherds. 

FiftJi. — Another  great  element  of  future  strength  is 
the  conservative  character  of  this  immense    Lutheran 


E.  V.  L.  ST.  JOHN'S  ORPHAN  HOME  (FOR  GIRLS),  BUFFALO,  N.  Y.. 

population.  Whether  it  comes  from  foreign  shores  or 
is  born  in  this  land,  the  solidity  and  sterling  virtues 
of  this  stock  are  unsurpassed.  Its  industry  and  thrift, 
its  peaceableness  and  intelligence,  make  it  the  choice 
and  the  enduring  element  of  the  nation.  Underlying 
these  virtues  are  the  sturdy  health  and  physical  stam- 
ina which  characterize  these  people  and  make  them 
prolific  beyond  all  others.  They  form  a  race  whose 
physical  and  spiritual  attributes  are  the  pledges  of 
larofe  families.     To  it  belongs  the  future  of  this  country 


The  Future  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  539 

and  from  it  by  God's  grace  the  Church  of  the  Reforma- 
tion will  have  its  future  growth  as  it  has  had  its  past. 

Sixth. — Another  striking  advantage  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  is  her  polyglot  character.  She  can  teach  and 
preach  in  every  tongue  spoken  in  this  country  by  Pro- 
testants, and  in  her  numerous  seminaries  she  is  edu- 
cating preachers  to  minister  to  the  English,  the  Ger- 
man, the  Swede,  the  Norwegian,  whatever  may  be  the 
language  of  any  wanderer  to  her  altars. 

Seventh. — Not  the  least  of  her  advantages  is  her 
prestige,  her  name,  her  glorious  history.  It  is  some- 
thing to  be  a  Lutheran,  to  belong  to  a  church  whose 
roots  penetrate  the  soil  of  four  centuries  and  may 
readily  be  traced  to  the  Apostolic  age.  A  church  that 
is  not  the  product  of  a  day,  or  of  a  generation  or  two, 
has  the  promise  of  a  future  such  as  is  not  assured  to 
the  religious  mushroom  growths  of  our  agre. 

To  these  infallible  signs  of  the  rapid  extension  and 
glorious  future  of  the  Lutheran  Church  might  be  ad- 
ded that  manifest  trend  of  the  Evangelical  Churches 
toward  some  of  the  most  prominent  features  of  Lu- 
theranism.  Notice  the  demand  of  the  day  for  a 
Christo-centric  theology,  which  is  the  soul  of  the  Lu- 
theran system ;  the  higher  view  of  the  Sacraments 
which  many  are  seeking  after,  and  which  have  been  a 
conspicuous  mark  of  Lutheranism ;  the  growing  pop- 
ularity of  the  Church  Festivals,  notwithstanding  the 
amazing  course  of  the  International  Committee  in 
keeping  them  out  of  the  Sunday  Schools  ;  the  general 
"groping  in  the  dark  for  a  better  service,"  for  some- 
thing "to  render  the  service  of  worship  more  vigorous 
and   impressive,"  feeling  after  such  helps  as  have  al- 


54-0  The  Lutherans  in  America. 

ways  been  embraced  in  the  Lutheran  Liturgies.  Are 
not  these  strivings  the  unmistakable  symptoms  of  a 
powerful  yearning  in  the  minds  of  others  for  those 
treasures  which  the  Lutherans  have  always  possessed  ? 
Any  disinterested  and  devout  observer  must  recog- 
nize in  these  phenomena  the  hand  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence. And  surely  her  own  children,  who  survey  the 
past  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this  country  and  be- 
hold her  present  growth,  who  have  faith  in  the  Gos- 
pel and  know  to  what  extent  their  Church  is  its  em- 
bodiment, must  share  the  conviction,  neither  forced  nor 
faltering,  that  in  the  davs  to  come,  her  doctrines  will 
be  sown  over  every  foot  of  the  soil  of  this  great  coun- 
try as  sure  as  the  sun  rises. 

"  Gottes  Wort  und  Luthers  Lehr 
Vergehet  nun  und  nimmermehr." 


INDEX 


Page. 
Acrelius,  266,  477 

Aloany,  118,121,  129,  131,  217 

America  and  Roman  Catholicism,  108  f 

Amsdorf,  97  f 

Anhalt,  Prince  of,  104  f 

Anne,  Queen,  175,  17S;  203,  205 

Arensius,  Rev.  B  A.,  130 ff 

Arndt's  "True  Christianity,"  186,  221 

Articles,  XXXIX,  508 


Athens, 


-217 


Augsburg  Confession,        219,  251,  260,  262, 

339.  342i,  346,  363,  365  f,  37' •  374   433. 

438,  458,  4641.  467,  472,   505  f,  5"  f 

Bachman,  Rev.   I.,  465,  467,  475,  488  f 

Bager,  Rev.  J.  G.,  266,  307  f 

Baltimore,  Church  in,        296,  301,  307  f,  503 
Baptism,  Infant,  516 

Baptists,  5 1 5  f 

Bassler,  Rev.  G.,  435,  450 

Baugher,  Rev.  H.  L.,  308,  480 

Berkenmeier,  Rev.  W.  C,         179,  209,  217, 
219,  229,  253  f,  287  f 
Bible  Society,  494  f 

Bittle,  Rev.  D.  F.,  465,  475 

Bjork,  Rev   E.,  159,  161,  165,  173 

Bolzius,  Rev.  J.  M.,  194,  202,  246 

Brenz,  104 

Brown,  Rev.  J.  A.,  369  ft 

Brunnholtz,  Rev.  P.,  254  f 

Bucer,  507 

Buenger,  Rev.,  411  ff 

Buffalo  Synod,  389,  404  f,  424  f 

Bugenhagen,  98  f 

Butler,  Rev.  J.  G. ,  309  f 

Calvinism,  515  f,  519;  Intolerant.  1 14  ff,  iigff 
Campanius,  Rev.  J.,  137,  149,  159 

Canada  Synod.  449 

Canstein,  Baron  von,  495 

Carlsson,  Rev.  E.,  453  f 

Carolina*,  Lu'heran  Church  in,       127,  355  f 
Carpenter,  Rev.  W.,  311 

Catechisation,     377  f,  462,  4S2  ff,  525  f,  536  f 
Catechism,  Anglican,  510 

Heidelberg,  512 

Luther's,  365,  374,  -590,  482 

translated  into  an  Indian  tongue,        141, 

J59  f.  39° 
Charles  XI,  154,  158,  160 

Charleston,  202,  306,  475 

Christianity.  Essence  of,  26 if,  29,  88 

Christ,  Person  of,         517  f;  the  center,  518  f 
(  hristina,  135,  142,  162  f 

Church,  indestructible,      21  f;  corrupt,  23  ff, 
29,  33,  40  ff;  a  brotherhood,  36;  a  po- 
litical power,  38;  authority,  61;  uni- 
versal, S5;  rights,  88f 


Page. 
Church,  Lutheran,  73  f,  78;  of  God,  — ;atrue 
Church,  83  f;  no  new  1  .hurch.  84,  87  ff; 
differs  from  Roman  Catholic,  514;  trials 
in  America,  210 — 232,  280  f,  296,  399, 
530  f;  Pol  glot,  282,  528,  538;  progress; 
294,  307.  531  ;  strength,  523  ff,  537  ;  in 
cities,  535  f ;  in  Europe,  528  f,  535  ^moth- 
er of  Protestantism,  50.5  f;  no  sect,  506; 
distinctive  features,  519  ff;  future,  530  ff 
Colleges,  527f,533 

Columbus,  107 

Common  Prayer.  Book  of,  509  f 

Concord,   Book  of,  375,  458 

Concordia  Seminary,  4  1 1 

Conference,  S  nodical,  385  f 

Consubstantiation,  1517 

Conventicles,  115,  117  f,  122 

Conversion,  426,  428 

Cortez,  108 

Council,  General,  393,  432  ff,  456,  500  f 

(  overdale  s  hible,  507 

(  ranmer,  508  tf 

Cruciger,  '103  1 

Danish  Synods,  403  f 

Denmark,  492  f 

Deaconess  Institutes,  485  f 

1 'eclension,  Moral,  40 f,  279!" 

Definite  Platform,  344  f,  360 

Discipline    Formula  of,  336  T 

Doctrines,  Lutheran,  513! 

Dutch  Lutherans,         108  f;  first  in  America, 
m;  persecuted,  113,  j  17  f ,  119,  121  f; 
organized,  124  f;  erect  a  church,  125 
Dutch  Persecutors,  113,  n6f,  121  ff,  139, 

i42f,    147;   moderate  aggressions  of, 
i36f,  142;  conquered  by  English,   146 
Dylander,  Rev.,  248,  286 

East  Pennsylvania  Synod,  361 

Ebenezer,  195^  204,  245^  256,  272 

Education,        196,  293^  297,  3i8f,  34^,  375, 
429,  474,  47°ff,525 

Society,  ;49f 

Endress,  Rev.  Christian,  '302 

England,  *  hurch  of  507 f 

English  Services,       167,  261,  283ff,  298,  302, 
306,  312,  343   359,  301,  381,  397,  44.. 
452,  46of 
Episcopal  Church  established  in  the  <^ar- 

olmas,  .  T2y 

Episcopalians,         179,    272,     287,  314,  461, 

515;   cared    for   by  the  Swedes,  284^ 

indebted  to  the  Lutherans,  5o7f 

Ernst,  the  Pious,  ^gi( 

Esbjorn,  Rev.  L.  P.,  453 

Fabricius,  Rev.  J.,    1291,  i47ff,  151,  153,  234 
Faith,  Essence  of,  23,  ?s 


542 


Index. 


Page. 

Falckner.  Rev   J.,  -T72f,  179,  209 

Falckner's  Swamp,  i72f,  234,  247 

Fanaticism,  223f,  227 

Festivals,  52of,  539 

Fluhr,  Kev.  George  D.,  311 

Forts  turned  into  Churches,  148 

Fort  Wayne,  4161,  41S 

Fran  eke,  A    H.,  493 


G.  A., 


I93ff.  215,  236,  238ff,  243, 
261,  264 


Franckean  Synod,  36*  ft' 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  31S,  479 

Franklin  College,  319,  479 

Free  Cities,  47 

French  Indian  War,  275f 

French  Reformers,  78,  81 

Friedr-richs.  Rev.  John  G.,  202 

Fritschel,  Rev.  G.,  383,  3931 

Rev.  S.,  3871 

Geissenhainer,  Rev.  F.  W.,  304,  321 

Georgia  187,  J93 

Germ,  n,  clamor  for,  291 1; 

injury  to  the  Church,  293^ 

Emigrants,  large  numbers  of,         17  f, 

igSf,  20off;  testimony  to,  199,  2iof; 

poverty  and  trials  of,  2ioff,  218IT,  224!!, 

23°f.  235,  290 

Society  of  Pennsylvania,  202,  319 

Germantown  218 

Germany  founding  no  Colonies,  169, 

21S.  49* 

helping  the  Lutherans  in  America, 

238,  344 
Gerock,  Rev.  J.  S.,  266,  296,  301 

Giesendanner,  Rev.  John  Ulrich,      203,  217 


Goering,  Rev.  Jacob, 

Goetwaier,  Rev.  John  Ernest, 

Grabau,  Rev.  J.  A.  A., 

Gronau,  Rev.  Israel  C, 

Grossman,  Rev.  G., 

Grundtxig, 

Gunn,  Rev.  Wralter, 

Gunlur, 

Gustavus  Adolphus, 


Hackensack, 
Halle, 


Handscliuh,  Rev  J,  1' 
Hanover, 

FlarUwck  Seminary, 
Hartwig,  Rev., 
Hasselquist,  Rev.  T.  N 
Hauge, 

S  nod, 

Hazelius,  Rev.  E.  L  , 
Heathenism,  Essence  of, 


301  f 

I2lf 

404,  4 '3i 
i94f 

387 

400 

500 

500  f 

133;  a  martyr  to 

Protestantism,  134 

209,  22S 

235ff>  2421,  254,  2to,  493f 


Hebron  <~hurch, 
Heinzelman,  Rev.  J.  D.  M., 
Helmuth,  Rev.  J.  H.  C  , 

Helmstaedt, 
Henkel,  Rev.  David, 


257f,  262,  284 

256 

320.  3551 

253,  266,  320 

453f 

395.  400 

356,  40of,  403 

32o,  355 

28;  reacting  on 

t_  hristianity,  25,  2b,  28 

2Q5f,  311 


264 

264,  297ft", 

3!9.  47^ 

304-  3'5 

374 


Page. 

Henkel,  Rev.  Gerhard 

234,  308 

Rev.  Paul, 

3o8f,  3r4 

Rev.  Philip, 

372f 

Dr   S.  G., 

377 

Herrnhuter, 

171 

He  er,  Rev.  C.  F., 

312,  499f 

Holland,  Lutherans  in 

,                     1 1  if,  ii3f 

Hospitals, 

485 

Humboldt  on  fifteenth 

century,                     45 

Hunter.  Governor, 

i79f 

Huss, 

75,  78,  8! 

Icelandic  Association, 

404 

Illinois  Synod, 

369.  4251,  438 

Northern,  Synod, 

454 

Impostors, 

223ff,  248,  252,  257 

India 

493f.  499f 

Indians  friendly  to  the 

Swedes,         136,  143, 

146,  157;  to  the  Germans,  iSof; 

Massacre,  iosf 

Indulgences, 

3off,  63  f,  66 

Infidelity, 

276!',  299 

Iowa  Synod, 

386ff,  423f,  437f 

Jacobs,  Professor  M., 

480     y 

James  Island, 

John  the  Constant, 

i04f 

Jonas, 

lOlf 

Justification, 

58f;  central,  82f,  518 

Keller,  Rev.  B., 

3°o»  3'9 

Rev.  Ezra, 

4S6 

Knoll,  Rev.  M.  C, 

179,  22Sf,  253,  287 

Koch,  Peter, 

259 

Kocherthal,  Rev.  J.  von,                            i78f 

Krauth,  C.  P., 

347f 

C.  P.  Jr., 

44-I ff,  4S8 

Krug,  Rev.  J.  A., 

265 

Kuelin, 

4o6f 

Kunze,  Rev.  J.  C., 

265f,  299^  3iSff,  478 

Kurtz,  Kev   B„ 

339f  343f.  <°9 

Rev.  J.  D., 

301 

Rev.  J.  N., 

254f,  261,  3oof 

Laity  in  the  Reformation,         iosf;  conduct- 
ing service,  151,  156,  221,  40of 
Lancaster,  218 

Language  conflict,  28ifF,  44of,  479 

Latiiudinarianism,  '  362f,  374 

Lehman,  Professor  W.  F.,  435 

Leibnitz,  492c 

Leo  X.,  63 

Licensure,  316 

Literature,  Lutheran,  375f 

Liturgy,       258,  263,  327,  347   353,  358  446, 
463,  467ft",  5191,  s  -7 
Livingston,  179 

Lochman,  Rev.  G.,  3C"3f.  321 

Lock,  Rev.  Lars,  i42f,  145,  148I,  151 

Loehe,  William,  419,  42iff 

Luther,  a  Roman  devotee,  52ff,  73;  conver- 
sion 56ft";  at  Worms62,  68;  on  indul- 
gences, 66ff;  excommunicated,  68; 
protected,  75f;  personality,  8of;  con- 
servatism, 82;  above  all  Reformers, 
94f;  on  Missions,  4901 


Index. 


543 


Page. 

Lutheran  Church,  (see  Church)  Name,  cjoff; 
Glory  of,  <pl 

Lutherans,  all  Reformers  92,  505,  507;  not 
Colonizing,  uof;  not  political  mal- 
contents 114;  a  hinderance,  116,  119, 
123;  steadfast,  n8f,  124,  157,  2206. 
233,397;  first  missionaries  in  America, 
139,  141  ;  first  to  practice  tolerance 
I39f;  assisting  English  reformers,  507 

Lutherans,  German,  preceded  by  Dutcli 
and  Swedes,  iogf;  widely  scattered, 
171,  2170";  numbers,  17  if,  2i3f,  216; 
spiriturai    destitution,  2i8ff.  23of,  235 

Lutheraner,   1  he,  414^417,421 

2o5ff 

488 

163 

300 
216,  342 

292 

359-  3°' 
115,  122,  143 

95ff.  507.  5io 

5  4 
91,  siof,  515,  519 


Maine,  Lutherans  in, 
Mann,  Rev.  W.  J., 
Markham,  Gov., 
Martin,  Rev.  J.  N., 
Maryland  Synod, 
Mayer,  Rev.  P.  F., 
Measures,  New, 
Me^apulensis,  Rev.  J 
Melancthon. 
Mercy,  \  oundless, 
Methodists, 
Michaelius,  Rev.  J., 
Michigan  b  nod, 
Miller,  Rev.  G.  B., 

Rev.  R.  J., 

Ministerial  Office, 


405 
350 

3i4.  31U 
411,  4i3f,  422,,  4241 


Ministers,  lack  of,  2i3f,  214!!,  3tbff,  321,  357 

Minnesota  Synod,  431,  438,  -149 

Missionary  Institute,  344 

Missions,  133    i37ff,  i4of,  146,  159,  162,  230, 

307ff.  332.  35off,  36of,  378,  38of,  384f, 

38Sff,  392f,  397f,  403,  4 (Of,  4i9f,  429, 

443-  449.  462,  4D9f,  49off,  49711",  520, 

533 
Missouri  Synod,  386,  387,    389,    404,   40011. 
42orf,  435,  43/ 
Monastic  Life,  3J>,  39,  531' 

Moravians,  The,  248,  25./,  5^2 

Muhlenberg,  Rev.  F.  A.  C,      272,  274,  295! 

Kev.  H    A.,  319 

Rev.  H.  E.,  272,  300,  4,81 

Rev.  and  Gen.  P.,  273f,  2951 

Rev.  H.  M.,  \outh,  24 iff;    comes  to 

America,  245f;  work,  248IT,  256,  4Sof ; 
re-enfoiced,  254;  use  of  h-nglish,  283 
287!;  death,  295 

Myconius,  10^ 

Neulander,  200 

New  Amsterdam,  Church  in,  i25ff,  131,  186, 
2^2,  287f,  293,  29J,  298f,304 
New  Feme,  184,  205 

Newburg,  178,  217,  219 

New  Hanover,  (see  Falckner's  Swamp.) 
New  1  rfvidencf,  (see  The  Tiappe), 
New  Jersey,  Lniherans  in,  209 

New  Yoik,  (see  New  Amsterdam), 

Sync.d      312,  320.  33of,  360,  369.  44-f 

Nicholson,  Francis  161 


Page. 
Noreiius,  Rev.  £.,  455 

Norton,  C.  F.,  442 

North  Carolina,    Lutherans   in,    205,    304^ 

3l3f.  323 

North  Carolina  Synod,  3i4f,  338,  3/2f 

Norwegians,  394ff,  428 

Nussman,  Rev.  A.,  304f 

Oglethorpe,  General,  i95f 

Ohio  Synod,  316,  327,  330,  336f,  360,  38olf, 
4 '7.  428,  435 
Ordination, 
Orphan  Asylums, 
Oxenstiern 


801,  i73tf 

196,  393.  429.  4«5f 

135 


Palatinate 

lJalatines, 

Papacy,  immorality  of, 

Penitential  S  stems, 

Pen  11,  William, 

Pennsylvania, 

— —     College, 


J75f 

*75,  177.  i79ff>  &7 

38f 

28  30,  S9 

136.    T49.  153.  *7« 

iS3f,  187  198,  202,  223 

346 1,  360,  480 


S.nod,    25Sff.    315,    323^,  330,  334f 
358ff,  367ft,  417,  433,  442f,  44 j,  48if, 

49? 

Persecution,  (see  Salzburgers  and  Palatines). 

Petersen,  Kling,  394 

Philadelphia,   104,   187,   21S,   234,  24S,  309, 

292I',  2971,  311 

Seminar  ,  44 iff 

Pietists,  178,  235ff 
Pittsburg  Synod,  309,  448ff 
Platform,  Definite,  3041,  369 
Plutschau,  493 
Points,  Four,  447ff.  456 
tJoiity  Church,  86f,  325,  336f,  413I,  421 
Practical  Seminary,  419 
Pra  er  Meetings,  463 
Predestination,  386,  401,  426f 
Presbyterians,  5 'if 
Press.  I  utheran,  489,  528,  532 
Priesthood,  of  N.  T..  34,  06 
Printing,  discover,  of.  46 
Pnntz,  Lieut. -Col.,  137 
Providence  in  the  Reformation,  44f,  =;of,  08, 
74f;  in  the  Lutheran  Churcii,  154,  160, 
162,  172,  53of 
Publications  .Lutheran, 
Puritan,  political  agitators, 
Ministers, 


persecutions, 

Quake  s, 
C'uitman,  Rev.  F. 

Raritan. 
Rationalism, 
Reform,  efforts  at, 


4871,  533 
139 

2I7f 

1 14,  121 

I7cf.  i84f 
3051.  3-*  1.  3^3 

228f 

277ff,  406,  4o3f,  519 
4of,  75f.  78,  81 


Reformation,  beginning  of,  57f;  providence 

in,  44IT.  5of,  68,  74,  77  ;  principles  of, 

61;  progress,  69ft;  protection  of,  76ff; 

triumphant,  7gf,  504 

Reformed,  The,  171,  178,  181,  281 

German,  512 

Revival,  3S4f,  360,  396 


544 


huh'X. 


Page. 
27iff;  dividing  the 
Germans    290 
132,  158,  161,  165, 
167,  173,  284 
416 
5i6f,  539 
40,  53 
409^  4121,  414,  420 
261,  269 
28,  59f;  sold  for 
money,  30,  31 
Salzburgers,   i87ff,  194^  22if,  272^  485,511 
Sandel,  Rev.  A.,  I7t 

Savanorola,  yc   %x 

Scliaeffer,  Rev.  C.  F.,  299  '487 

Rev.  D.  F.,  '  2q8 

Rev.  F.,  C. 

Rev.  F.  D., 

Sclialler,  Rev.  G., 

Schaum,  Rev.  J.  Heifrich,         254,  261 


Revolution,  The, 

Rudman,  Rev.  A., 

Rudesill,  Henry, 

Sacraments, 

Saint  Worship, 

St.  Louis, 

St.  Michael's, 

Salvation,  Man's  part, 


29S1 


4221 
;94f 


Schmidt,  Rev.  J.  r 
Schmucker,  Rev.  B.  M. 

Rev.  J.  G., 

Rev.  S.  S-, 

Scholiarie 
Schools,  I  arochial, 
Schultz,  Rev  J.  Christ, 
Schultze,  Rev.  C.  E., 

Governor, 

Schwartz,  C.  F., 

Scriptures, 

Sects, 

Seminar    Deutsches, 

Seminaries,  Theological 

Seminar;,  Theological  at  Gettysburg,     330' 

332,  339,  345,  355f 


265,  2711,  297,  478 

445  f 

302  f 

344ff,  487 

i8off,  185 

\33,  461,  48off 

234f 
264 
264 
494 
70  73.  82 
157.  170ft";  223 
318 
527 


Page. 
Swedish  culture,  477;  relation  to  Germans, 
2591,  266,  496;  churches  become  Epis- 
copalian, 285 
Symbolical  Books,  219,  257,  262,  313,  347,  vja 
377,   486,  409,   421,  438,  472,  525,  536 
Synod,  General,  32211",  331  ff,  372,  scoff,  520; 
influence    of,     328,    335,     348,     3508", 
354ff,    ,?6of,    469:    rupture,    362ft"; 
soundness,  362I,  365^  371 

General,  South,  (see  United  Synod), 

— r-  Norwegian  Augustana  396 

Scandinavian,  396f,  4541' 

Swedish,  45off 

United,  379ft;  464ff 

S\  nodical  Conference,  425f,  431 

Synods,  New,  36if,  371 

Southern,  362,  379,  432 

Tenacon  Church,  142,  144^  165,  247 

Tennessee  Synod,     336,  363,  372ff,  466,  4711 


6  iff, 


Se  ffarth,  Rev.  G., 
Shober,  Rev.  G. 
Sihler,  Dr., 
South  Carolina, 

Seminary, 

Spalatin, 

Spirit  and  Word, 

Staupitz, 

Stephan,  Martin, 

Stoever,  Rev.  John  Casper, 

Professor  M.  L., 

Steck,  Rev  J.  M., 

Rev.  M.  J  , 

Storch,  Rev.C.  A.  G., 
Stork,  Rev.  Theoph., 

Rev.  C.  A,, 

Streit,  Rev.  C, 

Stuyvesant,  Governor,  1 

Sunday  Schools, 

Supper,  the  Lord's, 

Swedish  Colony,  founded,     i35ff;  a  mission 

ar>  project  133,  i37ff,  159^  162;  con- 
quered, 142;  trials,  144,  147,  151ft", 
157;  picture  of  157;  high  character, 
150,  i67f;  activity  of  Ministers,  2cg, 
215,    217;    preaching    English,     284; 


488 

324 

4i7ff 

202II,  21S 

466,  48S 

1Q3 

5i3f 

57 

407ft,  412 

205,  217,  234 

480 

on 

3"f 

3041,314 

305 
305 

287,  306 
15,  117,  119,  125 

353.  397 


I'etzel, 

Texas  Synod, 
Theses,  Ninety-five, 
Torkillus,  Rev.  R., 
Tranberg,  Rev.  P., 
Tranhook  Church, 
Trappe,  The, 
Tulpehocken, 
T)ndale's  New  Testament, 

L'n in  Lcclesiastica, 

Urlsper^er,  Rev.  S., 

Vasa,  Gustavus, 

Virginia, 

Voigt,  Rev.  J.  L., 

Wagner,  Rev.  Tobias, 

Waldoboro, 

Walther,  Rev.  C.  F.  W., 


32f,  63f 
449 
66f 

135,  H> 
148,  261,  286,  495 

■45,    r49>  l6' 

234,  248 

183,  260 

507 

313 
i93ff 

49i.  53D 
205 
265 

25-' 

206fi 

4o6ff.  421,  423C 
430I',  432,  488 

235,  -4' 

184,  318 
492 

196,  511 
361 


Weissiger,  Daniel, 
Weiser,  Conrad, 
Welze,  Baron  von, 
Wesley,  John, 
West,  Synod  of  the, 

West  Camp,  217 

West  Pennsylvania  Synod,  337' 

Whitfield,  Rev.  Geo.,  196,  485 

Wicacoa,  14S,  161,  164ft 

Wisconsin  S>nod,  431,  438 

Wolf,  Magister,  A.,  228 

Wolfgang,  1041' 

Woman's  Missionary  Society,  503 


Worship,  Private  115,  117,  122,  158,186 

Wrangle,  Provost  von,    266,    286f,  296,  477, 

495 

Sffi    Wydiffe,  76,  7S.  81 

Wyneken,  Rev.  F.  C.  D  ,        4I5ff,  423-  43° 

Year,  Christian.  520 

York,  2l8,  252,  300 

Ziegenbalg,  493f 

Ziegenhagen,         194,  215,  227,  235,  240,  244 
Zinzendorf,  1  ount,  248,  252 


■ 


..    ,-.,.,-■ 


Date  Due 


OCT  "T'Swgjf1 


4mrm**t 


if$^$^M$$^:^ 


XT715J 


^ 


?KJh2K.n  America -..stor, of 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speerbbrary  ( 


1    1012  00040  9070 


